Christian Democracy in Latin America: Electoral Competition and Regime Conflicts

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Stanford University Press, 2003 - Political Science - 404 pages
Christian Democracy swept across parts of Latin America, gaining influence in Venezuela in the 1940s, Chile in the 1950s, El Salvador and Guatemala in the 1960s, and Costa Rica and Mexico in the 1980s. This book offers an overview of Christian Democracy in the region underscoring its remarkable diversity and examines the Christian Democratic organizations of Chile and Mexico, which are still major parties today. The concluding section analyzes the demise of formerly significant Christian Democratic parties in El Salvador, Guatemala, Peru, and Venezuela.

Christian Democracy in Latin America provides the definitive stufy of the nature, rise, and decline of Christian Democracy in Latin America. The book enriches the broader theoretical literature on political parties by highlighting the distinctive strategic dilemmas parties face, and the distinctive objectives they pursue, in contexts of fragile democracy or of authoritarian regimes.

 

Contents

Party Objectives in Authoritarian Regimes with Elections or Fragile
3
The Diversity of Christian Democracy in Latin America
30
Transcending Left
64
Explaining the Origins
78
TWO MAJOR CONTEMPORARY
119
The Future of Chilean Christian Democracy
162
From the Fringes
196
The Partido Acción Nacional
247
The Rise and Decline of COPEI in Venezuela
275
The Rise and Fall
301
Christian Democracy in Peru
330
The Transformation and Decline
364
Index
385
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About the author (2003)

Scott Mainwaring is the Eugene and Helen Conley Chair and is Professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame. Timothy R. Scully is Executive Vice-President and Professor of Government and International Studies at the University of Notre Dame.

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