The Origins of Democracy in the Southern Cone

• In Event: Democratization and Latin America's Left Turn in Historical Perspective

Abstract

Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay were among the first countries in Latin America to establish reasonably free and fair elections. The proposed paper seek to explain the enactment of laws that ensured reasonably free and fair electoral competition in the Southern Cone at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. Specifically, it will examine the role played by urbanization and the splits within the elite that it engendered in the enactment of these laws. My working hypothesis is that elite factions used electoral laws, including reforms that extended the suffrage to new groups or established secret ballots, to strengthen their position in elections vis-à-vis other elite factions.

Author

• Raul L Madrid, University of Texas/Austin