Search -
Democracy and Development in Latin America: Economics, Politics and Religion in the Post-War Period
Democracy and Development in Latin America Economics Politics and Religion in the PostWar Period Author:David Lehmann In this wide-ranging history of Latin American thought since the 1930s, David Lehmann sets out to integrate three topical areas of considerable importance to the modern history of Latin America: the intellectual currents of social science; the renovation of Catholic thought and practice; and the emergence of popular social movements. Concentrati... more »ng on Argentina, Brazil, and Chile, he provides an intellectual history of the past forty years and follows the fate of the generations whose ideas—in economics, politics, and religion—became the most influential in the developing world. In terms accessible to people unfamiliar with the details of modern Latin American history, Lehmann explains the origins of dependency theory, the disappointing effects of import-substitution, the rise of Liberation Theology, the nature of grassroots politics, as well as a variety of other schools of thought and the audiences to which they have been addressed. The book also offers an up-to-date analysis of the many social movements that have proliferated in Latin America, in the context of unprecedented repression and economic crisis. Lehmann concludes by distilling from these social movements and the ideologies they have inspired a non-utopian contribution to the idea of democratic development: a basismo, or grassroots agenda for the reinvention of civil societies on the verge of disintegration and states on the verge of bankruptcy. His book will be indispensable for anyone concerned with the politics, sociology, and economics of development.« less