Essay on Is Democracy Sustainable in Latin America?

The Independence of Latin America was a process caused by years of injustices, discriminations, and abuse, from the Spanish Crown upon the inhabitants of Latin America. Since the beginning the Spanish Crown used the Americas as a way to gain riches and become greater in power internationally. Three of the distinct causes leading Latin America to seek independence from Spain, were that Spain was restricting Latin America from financial growth, (this included restrictions from the Spain on international trade, tax burden, and laws which only allowed the Americas to buy from Spain), The different social groups within Latin America, felt the pressure of the reforms being implicated on them

Colonization of Latin America is the central conflict of its history because its effects as still prevalent in the socioeconomics and politics of modern-day Latin American countries. It is because of the colonization of Latin America by the Iberians that today, the Latin American people are a multiethnic people with many descending from Europeans or Africans. The Iberians conquest resulted in the death, displacement, or enslavement of countless natives, which in turn further increased the power and draw of the encomienda system. As the encomienda system grew and became more extensive, the native population diminished and the transatlantic, African slave trade became more commonplace. This caused the multiethnic societies of Latin America today and created a social structure consisting

Even though democracy was first invented in Greece, fully grew and developed in the United states. As we know democracy is the back bone for one country’s development. When the government is under the law, it is least likely abusing the country’s resources for individual use and participating in corruption. For example, Africa has different kind of good resources, but the continent is very back ward because of their corrupted and dictator governors. A constitution is a framework that legally describes the rules and procedures of a government and legally binds that government to a set of guides as it limits and empowers the government to act in the name of the people or the state. “America got a constitution

They brought the religion Roman Catholic to Latin America, new foods like mango, and how Latin America is operated. The reasons Latin America is this way is because Spain was from absolute monarchies, wars for independence, explorers didn't bring family, colonies never united, foreign intervention and lack of industrialization cause the development of unstable governments. Latin America also has a lot of poverty and poor people because of how the governments are keeping up with the economy. For example, in Venezuela, they have a lot of oil, but they sell it extremely cheap to the people. This may cause the people to be happy to get cheap gasoline, but it still won't help anything at all with it's bad economy. With the new government, he made the prices go higher, making people work harder to meet their needs. The heritage of most the Latin people are spaniards, native americans and

Models for post-revolutionary Latin American government are born of the complex economic and social realities of 17th and 18th century Europe. From the momentum of the Enlightenment came major political rebellions of the elite class against entrenched national monarchies and systems of power. Within this time period of elitist revolt and intensive political restructuring, the fundamental basis for both liberal and conservative ideology was driven deep into Latin American soil. However, as neither ideology sought to fulfill or even recognize the needs or rights of mestizo people under government rule, the initial liberal doctrine pervading Latin American nations perpetuated

Latin America is a continent that is constantly struggling between governmental abuse and oppression of its citizens. In Latin America, it is very common for non –democratic systems to be enforced. During recent years, the continent has experienced a governmental shift from an absolute to a more democratic system. This era is called the democratic third wave, which brought about democratic like tendencies to Latin America. Many factors such as corruption, poverty, and inequality pushed the people to favor this new democratic system. The abuse of power is also very common, and the citizen’s unrest is highly noted. Most citizens are in favor of doing away with the old system of government, and establishing a new efficient political system.

In Latin American history in Latin America: Its Problems and Its Promise: A Multidisciplinary Introduction Knippers Black, along with several authors, has compiled a survey that introduces the reader to the most basic and interesting qualities of Latin America. The textbook analyzes the lasting qualities of the area, and the pace and track

Pinochet was put into power . This is a perfect example of how the US foreign policy replaced genuine democracy with dictatorship for their own benefit, and again, supposedly in the name of National Security. Latin America was a victim of US foreign policy and corporate greed.

Latin American revolutions tend to follow similar patterns as we have seen throughout the readings in Mexico, Cuba and Nicaragua. There are always many aspects to a revolution, but the common theme of wealth distribution played a crucial factor in every revolution we discussed this semester. Whether it be corruption or manipulation of wealth, the elites will do whatever it takes to maintain that status of being the “elites” and keep putting down the working and lower classes to maintain that hierarchy. In Mexico, as Charlip and Burns explains it, ““Land, a principal source of wealth, remained in the hands of a few. Foreigners owned between 14 and 20 percent of it. Ninety-five percent of the rural population owned none (Pg. 174).” Mexico ultimately was able to rid the

Latin America is a melting pot of races, these diversity helped to shape Latin America societies and influenced culture, politics, economy and religion. Indigenous beliefs, African religions and Catholicism all played a role in Latin America religions.

The type of development that was formed in Latin America was structural dualism because it is able to define the ways of life for the people. This kind of social infrastructure is in a way very similar to the community society, where all people will work collectively to benefit the whole. This is seen in more liberal forms of government. What I have also learned are the concepts of nationalism, patriotism, and that development is a social process. All of these concepts correlate in some way. Education has led to increases in nationalism and patriotism. This created a loyalty and love for the Latin American countries, and in turn increased the want to fight for their sovereignty and rights. Along with these fights for independence the formation of populism came about and the need to make numbers more predominant in political processes as well as to break the stronghold of the elite powers. With the elite powers, corruption was very prevalent during this time and it became one of the major reasons for the economic instability and dependence of the

In the years following the Congress of Vienna, revolts plagued many European countries as well as several areas in Latin America. France was driven from Haiti, Portugal lost control of Brazil, and Spain was forced to withdraw from all its American empire except for Cuba and Puerto Rico. Colonial government in South America came to an end. Three countries where revolts were successfully established were Haiti, Venezuela, and Brazil. The countries in Latin America benefited from the revolts because they became free from colonial rule, but, except for Brazil, they were left with many consequences.

It is impossible to separate the history of military dictatorships in Latin America from the history of economic exploitation and of US intervention in the region. The history of slavery and other forced labor in the pursuit of large-scale agriculture and resource extraction in the time of the colonies has created a legacy of economic exploitation. This poverty and inequality has in many cases led to popular uprisings and calls for reform, which provided the reason (or the excuse, depending on your point of view) to use military force to restore discipline. The United States' willingness to support strong regimes capable of securing its interests in the region also has played a decisive role. These

Governmental corruption, political instability, and coup d’états have become almost commonplace in the world of Latin America. The complex sociopolitical and economic conundrums that plague Latin America stem from its deeply complex history. Corruption by the viceroyalty had been commonplace while the region was under the reign of the Spanish crown. This foundation of corruption paved way for the problems that we see in Latin America today. Latin America sought independence from the Spanish and Portuguese crowns in the 18th and 19th centuries. Simón Bolívar and Francisco de Miranda were integral figures in facilitating Latin America’s freedom from the Spanish crown. Bolívar’s success in fighting off the Spaniards was inherently tied to Miranda’s

Within the last 20 years many Latin American nations have changed course from a neoliberal polity to one that is sided more to the left wing spectrum. “A significant part of Latin America is governed today by political movements and governments that call themselves ‘leftist’ or are classified as such by external observers.” (Luna) Furthermore, the shift in direction politically has been classified by 3 factors; “1) opposing incumbents by mobilizing economic and political discontent; 2) being able to bring together a broad, socially heterogeneous electoral constituency in the context of fragmented societies; and 3) having a charismatic leader who was able to achieve 2 by pursuing 1.” (Luna)