Free Market Democracy and the Chilean and Mexican Countryside by Marcus J Kurtz

Free Market Democracy and the Chilean and Mexican Countryside by Marcus J Kurtz

This book examines the relationship between free markets and democracy. It demonstrates how the implementation of even very painful free-market economic reforms in Chile and Mexico have helped to consolidate democratic politics without engendering a backlash against either reform or democratization. This national-level compatibility between free markets and democracy, however, is founded on their rural incompatibility. In the countryside, free-market reforms socially isolate peasants to such a degree that they become unable to organize independently, and are vulnerable to the pressures of local economic elites. This helps to create an electoral coalition behind free-market reforms that is critically based in some of the market's biggest victims: the peasantry. The book concludes that the comparatively stable free-market democracy in Latin America hinges critically on its defects in the countryside; conservative, free-market elites may consent to open politics only if they have a rural electoral redoubt.

"Cogently argued, drawn from wide social science analytical perspectives, and complete with an extensive bibliography, Kurtz's book is a valuable contribution to Latin American studiesA truly fine piece of academic analysis...Essential." J.A. Rhodes, Luther College, Choice
"...this book makes an important contribution to the study of democratization and the political economy of market reforms. It merits close reading by those concerned with both." - The Americas, Mark Eric Williams, Middlebury College

Kurtz, Marcus J.: - Marcus J. Kurtz is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Ohio State University. He is the author of Free Market Democracy and the Chilean and Mexican Countryside (Cambridge, 2004). He has had articles published in the American Journal of Political Science, World Politics, Comparative Politics, Comparative Political Studies, International Organization, the Journal of Politics, Politics and Society, Comparative Studies in Society and History, and Theory and Society.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780521827379
ISBN 10	052182737X
Title	Free Market Democracy and the Chilean and Mexican Countryside
Author	Marcus J Kurtz
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Cambridge University Press
Year published	2004-04-05
Number of pages	264
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.