The ABC countries

By now, I hope, you've all read the chapter on Brazil. The countries of Argentina, Brazil, Chile are often called the "ABC" countries of Latin America. Post a good paragraph or two (in the comments section) giving the similarities and/or differences between these three countries. Worth 5 points.

Argentina & Chile

I'd like you to consider, as you read the chapter on Chile, the differences & similarities between Chile & Argentina. What things do these countries have in common (politically, culturally, economically, socially)? What elements are different between the two countries (politically, culturally, economically, socially)? Post comments, discussions here.

Since no one's yet commented here, I'll add this: Since we already spoke in class about some of the differences/similarities, I'd like you to comment on what implications you think these may have had for the current politics of Argentina & Chile.

And keep in mind that participating in this blog is an IMPORTANT part of your participation grade.

Info to consider

I'll talk a bit about some of these in class, but I thought I'd post some data on a few different countries in Latin America, to give you a simpler context for comparisons/contrasts:

ARGENTINA
Demographic: White 97%, Other 3%
Population: 39 million (13 million in Buenos Aires)
Literacy: 96.2%
GDP/capita: $11,200

CHILE
Demographic: White/mestizo 95%, Indian 3%, Other 2%
Population: 15 million (5 million in Santiago)
Literacy: 96%
GDP/capita: $9,900

PERU
Demographic: Indian 45%, Mestizo 37%, White 15%
Population: 27 million (8 million in Lima)
Literacy: 91%
GDP/capita: $5,200

MEXICO
Demographic: Mestizo 60%, Indian 30%, White 9%
Population: 105 million (21 million in Mexico City)
Literacy: 92%
GDP/capita: $9,000

ECUADOR
Demographic: Mestizo 65%, Indian 25%, White 7%
Population: 13 million (2.5 million in Quito)
Literacy: 93%
GDP/capita: $3,300

BRAZIL
Demographic: White 55%, Mulatto 38%, Black 6%
Population: 184 million (2 million in Brazilia)
Literacy: 80%
GDP/capita: $7,600

All this data comes from Infoplease, if you'd like to look up other countries or just more detail.

Quiz Thursday

I've decided to make the quiz ten short answer questions, w/ no multiple choice. The quiz will cover vocabulary, specific people, important historical periods, and culture. We'll devote Tuesday's class entirely to a review of the first two chapters of the Skidmore text. So come to class prepared w/ any questions you might have. Thursday's quiz should take no more than 45 minutes.

Don't forget that paper abstracts are also due Thursday.

Start thinking about papers

Just a note that you should feel free to email me (or, better, leave comments here) if you have questions about your abstracts, which are due in just over a week. You should by then have a country and a topic in mind.

Sample abstract

Since you must write an abstract (250 words maximum) for your seminar paper, I'm including a sample abstract for you to look at. You can also find some in various places. The abstract I'm including is for the paper I'll present in April at a political science conference, so I don't expect yours to be entirely similar. But notice that all it does is tell the country, topic, and general idea of what kind of argument/evidence I'll be looking at. It's also, by the way, only 182 words.

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This paper considers the effects of the change in Bolivia’s electoral system from list proportional (list-PR) to mixed-member proportional (MMP). One of the most noticeable implications of the 1994 change was the increased regionalization of Bolivian politics. Another implication was the party system’s fragmentation. Prior to the change, Bolivian politics revolved around a stable, moderate multiparty system organized around two blocks (MNR and ADN-MIR). In the two elections following the change to MMP, the country’s electoral system has fragmented, centered on regionally entrenched and antagonistic parties. Using statistical analysis of disaggregate electoral data from each of the country’s five elections (three prior to MMP, two after MMP), this paper establishes that the increasingly important regional cleavages are correlated to the change to MMP, and argues that this was a contributing factor to the dramatic overthrow of then-president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada in October 2003. Such a finding gives great reason to question the recent popularity of MMP by the discipline’s “institutional engineers.” While regional differences existed throughout Bolivia’s democratic experience, these were increasingly strengthened and polarized after the change to MMP.

Revised syllabus

I've just corrected the mistaken dates on the syllabus. You can view the new course reading schedule here, or you can download a Word (.doc) version to print here.

Note that the changes have added the number of class days by one (since the MLK holiday will no longer affect us).

Welcome

This is our classblog. I'll post here frequently about the readings & discussions, or other things pertaining to our semester's focus on democratization in Latin America. You're also encouraged to post here as well, and to comment on each others' posts. in short, this is a place to expand/continue our in-class discussions.

We will focuses on issues of democratization, a focus of much of the recent literature. I've placed four books on two-hour course reserve that should be useful for you in writing your papers:

Building Democracy in Latin America, J. Peeler
Democracy in Developing Countries: Latin America, L. Diamond (et al)
Democracy in Latin America, G. Lievesley
Democracy in Latin America, G. Philip

I'm also compiling a short list of excellent online resources (specifically, blogs) on current Latin American news pertaining to democratization & related issues. I'll post them on a sidebar in a few days. One of my favorites is Beautiful Horizons, which mostly covers civil rights issues.