Democracy in Brazil and the Southern Cone: Achievements and Problems

Abstract

This paper analyzes the achievements and failures of the new democratic governments in Argentina (1983-), Uruguay (1985-), Brazil (1985-), and Chile (1990-). My comparisons focus on four fundamental issues: economic performance, the ability of governments to address the pressing problems of poverty and inequality, the quality of democratic practice, and the degree to which these governments and the democratic regimes have won popular support and legitimacy. Focusing on these questions is not to deny the significance of others, nor to suggest that citizens of these countries would see these four as the most pressing. The focus here will be on government; civil society will not be discussed in any detail.This article develops four principal arguments. First, it argues that the performance of democracy has varied considerably in the four countries under discussion. Democracy in Chile, at least in its early phases, has been a success both politically and economically.