Latin America has been one of the critical areas in the study of comparative politics. The region's experiments with installing and deepening democracy and promoting alternative modes of economic development have generated intriguing and enduring empirical puzzles. In turn, Latin America's challenges continue to spawn original and vital work on central questions in comparative politics: about the origins of democracy; about the relationship between state and society; about the nature of citizenship; about the balance between state and market.
The richness and diversity of the study of Latin American politics makes it hard to stay abreast of the developments in the many sub-literatures of the field. The Routledge Handbook of Latin American Politics offers an intellectually rigorous overview of the state of the field and a thoughtful guide to the direction of future scholarship. Kingstone and Yashar bring together the leading figures in the study of Latin America to present extensive empirical coverage, new original research, and a cutting-edge examination of the central areas of inquiry in the region.
Part One: Democratic Governance and Political Institutions 1. The Origins and Durability of Democracy Gerardo L. Munck 2. Presidentialism and Legislatures Mark P. Jones 3. Decentralization and Federalism Kent Eaton 4. Parties, Party Systems, and Political Representation Kenneth M. Roberts 5. "A Tale of Two Cities": The Judiciary and the Rule of Law in Latin America Daniel M. Brinks 6. The Latin American Military David Pion-Berlin 7. Informal Institutions and Politics in Latin America Steven Levitsky 8. Accountability and Representation in Latin America Frances Hagopian 9. Public Opinion Research in Latin America Elizabeth J. Zechmeister and Mitchell A. Seligson 10. Human Rights and Military Abuses Anthony W. Pereira Part Two: Development 11. Neoliberalism and its Alternatives Javier Corrales 12. Declining Inequality in Latin America: Some Economics, Some Politics Nancy Birdsall, Nora Lustig and Darryl McLeod 13. Environment and Sustainable Development Eduardo Silva 14. Social Policies in Latin America: Causes, Characteristics, and Consequences James W. McGuire Part Three: Actors/Social Groups 15. Social Movements in Latin America Kathryn Hochstetler 16. Understanding the Vagaries of Civil Society and Participation in Latin America Philip Oxhorn 17. Labor Maria Lorena Cook 18. Business Politics in Latin America: Investigating Structures, Preferences, and Influence Sebastian Karcher and Ben Ross Schneider 19. Indigenous Politics: Between Democracy and Danger José Antonio Lucero 20. Race, Politics, and Afro-Latin Americans Ollie A. Johnson III 21. Gender Lisa Baldez Part Four: International Concerns 22. U.S.-Latin American Relations: Power, Politics, and Cooperation Peter H. Smith 23. Intra-Latin American Relations: The Challenge of Promoting Cooperation While Defending Sovereignty David R. Mares 24. International Economic Relations/International Development Institutions Grigore Pop-Eleches 25. The Political Economy of Regulatory Policy: Economic Crisis and Privatization in the 1990s Luigi Manzetti and Carlos Rufin 26. The Politics of Drugs and Illicit Trade in the Americas Peter Andreas and Angelica Duran Martinez Part Five: Theories/Methods 27. Institutionalism Aníbal Pérez-Liñán and Néstor Castañeda Angarita 28. Culture and/or Postmodernism Sujatha Fernandes 29. The Integration of Rational Choice into the Study of Politics in Latin America Barbara Geddes 30. The Enduring Influence of Historical-Structural Approaches Jennifer Cyr and James Mahoney 31. Natural and Field Experiments in the Study of Latin American Politics Thad Dunning Part Six: Critical Reflections on the State of the Field 32. What's Next? Reflections on the Future of Latin American Political Science Barry Ames, Miguel Carreras, and Cassilde Schwartz 33. The Blessings of Troubles: Scholarly Innovation in Response to Latin America's Challenges Jorge I. Domínguez 34. State of the Field: Political Regimes and the Study of Democratic Politics Robert R. Kaufman 35. Latin American Political Regimes in Comparative Perspective Adam Przeworski 36. Popular Representation in Contemporary Latin American Politics: An Agenda for Research Ruth Berins Collier and Christopher Chambers-Ju
