Democracy despite despotism: A Latin American paradox

Abstract

This is the first part of an enormous project that aims to understand the social bases of democratic life in late eighteenthand nineteenth-century Latin America. The societies included in the book are Mexico and Peru, and we are told that it is to be followed by a similar volume focusing on Cuba and Argentina. This selection is to provide a contrast between those Latin American societies that were more deeply affected by the colonial legacy and those that were not. However, the main object of the research is to assess the extent to which contemporary theories of democratic rule, many of which are derived from the Tocquevillian tradition, can withstand the evidence derived from detailed historical research in the four countries. Starting from the familiar argument that links the flourishing civic life Alexis de Tocqueville observed in the New England townships, during his visit to America in 1831, the author seeks to explore a related set of issues. Forment breaks down the notion of "civic society" into a rather more complex set of social spheres the civil, economic, political, and public that may exhibit different degrees of democratic participation. Insofar as high levels of participation and a large number of (albeit transient) associations have the capacity to generate "social power," this, the author claims, indicates far greater "democratic" experiences and values than the frequency of authoritarian forms of government in Latin America would suggest, an argument that is for the most part convincing. Tocqueville has for many years cast a long shadow over the study of Latin American politics and society. This influence has been at times quite explicit and at other times muted or perhaps even beyond the awareness of the authors who are taking essentially Tocquevillian perspectives. Tocqueville himself periodically mentioned the Latin American cases as comparative asides, always suggesting that they contrasted sharply with their Northern neighbors. Even the land in North and South America was full of contrasts. South America and the Caribbean were idyllic and when the first European explorers landed there