The soul of Latin America / Larry Neal.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Neal, Larry, Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political culture--Latin America.

Political culture.

Latin America--Politics and government.

Latin America.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 417 pages)

Place of Publication:

New Haven, CT : Yale University Press, [2001]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

To understand Latin America's political culture, and to understand why it differs so greatly from that of the United States, one must look beyond the political history of the region, Howard J. Wiarda explains in this comprehensive book. A highly respected expert on Latin American politics, Wiarda explores a sweeping array of Iberian and Latin American social, economic, institutional, cultural, and religious factors from ancient times to the twentieth century. He illuminates the distinctive political attitudes and traditions of Latin America as well as the unique-and not widely understood-features of present-day Latin American models of democracy.While Ibero-American and Western liberal traditions draw from the same classical thinkers, they often emphasize different ideas and reach different conclusions, Wiarda contends. He traces the influences of Rome, Islam, medieval Christianity, the Reconquest, and Iberian feudalism, and the powerful but largely unacknowledged effects of the Counter-Reformation on Iberian and Latin American civilizations. The author concludes with a discussion of recent changes in political culture and an assessment of the strength of democracy's hold in the nations of Latin America.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface

Chapter 1. Foundations of Contrast: The United States and Latin America

Chapter 2. Origins: Greece, Rome, the Bible, and Medieval Christianity

Chapter 3. Medieval Iberia: The Distinct Tradition

Chapter 4. Spain and Portugal in America: The Colonial Heritage

Chapter 5. Liberalism and the Latin American Independence Movements

Chapter 6. Positivism: A Philosophy of Order and Progress

Chapter 7. Nationalism

Chapters. Marxism

Chapter 9. Corporatism

Chapter 10. The Conflict Society, 1930s-1980s

Chapter 11. Transitions to Democracy-or Something Less Than That?

Chapter 12. Which Way Latin America?

Notes

Select Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 391-410) and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 24. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

9780300142259

0300142250

OCLC:

861792835