Political and institutional reforms in Post-Authoritarian regimes in Argentina, Chile and other Latin American countries

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

Ever since the start of Latin America’s "third wave of democratization," the region has witnessed the collapse of nearly all of its dictatorships, but not an end to contentious politics and political violence in particular. What explains the democratization of political conflict in the absence of its pacification? Has political violence persisted despite democracy’s ascendency, or precisely because of it? This panel will open a conversation about these questions by gathering a methodologically diverse set of studies into the intersections between political institutions and contentious politics. We depart from a critical interrogation of the particular institutional manifestations of democracy’s inherent principles of consensus and inclusion, as well as their authoritarian origins. To the extent that these institutions take the form of constitutional rigidity, military prerogatives, and arrangements that incorporate powerful societal actors into democracy’s ruling coalition, while often exacerbating deep-seated inequalities and violence against ethnic minorities, they create and sustain the conditions for political contention. What drives the radicalization of governments, their allies, and politically excluded opposition groups that operate under these institutional arrangements? What explains the prevalence of violence in the episodes of contention that emerge in these contexts? What are the causes and consequences of major reforms (or lack thereof) of rules inherited from authoritarian regimes? To survey these salient forms of conflict and violence, palpable across Latin America’s racialized democracies, the panelists draw on cutting-edge research as well as a broad range of cases, themes, analytical frameworks, and methodological approaches.

Sub Track

• Political Institutions and Processes

Session Organizer

• Michael Wilson Becerril, Colgate University

Chair

• Valeria Palanza, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

Discussant

• Valeria Palanza, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

Individual Presentations

• Coalitions, Institutions, and Sectoral Transitions: The Evolution of Defense Industry Reform in Argentina, 1983–1997 - Collin Grimes, University of California, Riverside

• The Pacific Legacies of Democracy and Dictatorship: How Prior Experiences with Democracy and Dictatorship Affect Domestic Political Contention: Evidence from Latin America - Wynand Kastart, Indiana University Bloomington

• El problema constitucional chileno y las constituciones de la post-transición en America Latina - Claudia Heiss, Universidad de Chile

• Equilibrios de participación y representación en los cambios institucionales - Maria Cristina C Escudero

• Extractive Policing in Peru: Racialized Displacement and the Territorial Dynamics of Modernity - Michael Wilson Becerril, Colgate University