Social Science Research Council

Latin American social science has long been preoccupied with the conditions that give rise to different patterns of rule. Analyses of the region have contributed to a rich social scientific literature on the causes of democratization and democratic breakdown, on the relationships between social structure and regime type, and on linkages between political regimes and economic performance.

Despite the establishment of constitutional rule in most of the Hemisphere over the past two decades, concern with democracy remains at the heart of scholarly research and public discourse throughout the region. Not only are existing democratic institutions weak in many countries, these institutions remain inaccessible to large segments of the population. The program thus aimed to illuminate prospects for strengthening avenues for political representation and participation in contemporary Latin America, and for enhancing the quality of democracy in ways that could contribute to the construction of citizenship in societies that have long been plagued by polarization and exclusion.