Democracy in Latin America

Abstract

country and each presents a different situation; Second, because the answer depends also upon one's concept of democracy. It is probably fair to say that Latin Americans as people are as democratic as Anglo-Ameri cans. But their democracy is expressed in differ ent institutions and patterns of behavior. Some Latin American opinions on the subject, like those of Jose Vasconcelos expressed in his Cre ole Ulysses, are derived from riding third-class or steerage on the big steamships which plied the Caribbean and the coasts of South America in the pre-war days. Others, because of unpleas ant experiences with Anglo-Americans in Latin America or along the Mexican border, feel that they are more democratic because [they are] less class conscious than Anglo-Americans. A Brazilian, Haytian or Cuban observing Jim Crow conditions in the United States might well come to the same conclusion. To a large extent our concept of democ racy in the United States is an Anglo-American product, and especially a product of our own national history during the nineteenth century. We associate the term democracy with orderly elections, stability of government, universal secret suffrage, the federal system and even with certain legal sanctions for the protection of private property and individual economic enterprise which are part of the Anglo-Ameri can systems. Many of us of course, realize that democracy is more than this. From Jefferson on our leaders of democratic thought have pointed out the spiritual strivings and the social aspi rations which constitute its essence, particu larly the aspirations for a better and freer social order. They have seen that democracy is a com plex of all these strivings intimately associated with powerful dynamic elements arising from the conquest of a new continent and from the industrial and technological revolutions of the past century and a half. Inevitably these eco nomic changes broadened the basis of political participation in the nation-state as they opened up opportunities for ampler economic and cul tural life to larger masses of people affected by these historical processes. A good deal of what we recognize as democracy in the modern world is just this broadening of the basis of political structure. Democracy like dictatorship is not absolute. It exists in many different forms and degrees. It is a fact of history, not a proposition of theol ogy. It is a pattern of political behavior, infused with strong spiritual elements, the essence of which is the belief in attainment of a better