Crime and Violence in Latin America: Citizen Security, Democracy, and the State (Woodrow Wilson Center Press) (Hardcover), by Joseph S. Tulchin, H. Hugo Frühling and Heather Golding (Editors). Woodrow Wilson Center Press (June 5, 2003).
Addresses a major challenge to democracy that has, to date, been underresearched and underdocumented. Information

Democracy and Human Rights in Latin America: (Hardcover), by Richard S. Hillman, John A. Peeler and Elsa Cardozo Da Silva (Editors). Praeger Publishers (November 30, 2001).
Questions about democracy and human rights have emerged in the advent of the 21st century, a time in which the prospects for progress in these areas have never been greater. This book is designed to respond to some of these questions with reference to Latin America, where democratic regimes have alternated with authoritarian governments and the human rights record is inconsistent at best. Taken together, these essays reveal the complexity of democratic transitions, the importance of support for human rights, and the way in which democracy and human rights are linked in Latin America. The first part of the book includes chapters that cast a critical eye on democracy and human rights trends in Chile, Venezuela, Columbia, and Brazil. Part two gauges the impact and prospects of foreign initiatives promoting democracy and human rights in the region, focusing especially on those efforts made by the United States in Haiti and Cuba. Each chapter reaffirms the essential linkages between procedural democracy and substantive human rights, and argues that states with authoritarian pasts must reorient their political cultures, and that these initiatives must come from both domestic and international agents. Students and scholars interested in the problems and prospects inherent in democratic transitions in contemporary Latin America will find this collection enlightening.  Information

Forgotten Continent: The Battle for Latin America's Soul (Hardcover), by Michael Reid. Yale University Press (January 3, 2008).
Latin America has often been condemned to failure. Neither poor enough to evoke Africa’s moral crusade, nor as explosively booming as India and China, it has largely been overlooked by the West. Yet this vast continent, home to half a billion people, the world’s largest reserves of arable land, and 8.5 percent of global oil, is busily transforming its political and economic landscape. This book argues that rather than failing the test, Latin America’s efforts to build fairer and more prosperous societies make it one of the world’s most vigorous laboratories for capitalist democracy. In many countries—including Brazil, Chile and Mexico—democratic leaders are laying the foundations for faster economic growth and more inclusive politics, as well as tackling deep-rooted problems of poverty, inequality, and social injustice. They face a new challenge from Hugo Chávez’s oil-fuelled populism, and much is at stake. Failure will increase the flow of drugs and illegal immigrants to the United States and Europe, jeopardize stability in a region rich in oil and other strategic commodities, and threaten some of the world's most majestic natural environments.  Information

Latin America: Its Problems And Its Promise, Fourth Edition (Paperback), by Jan Knippers Black. Westview Press; 4 edition (February 1, 2005).
Jan Knippers Black's Latin America: Its Problems and Its Promise is one of the most successful textbooks on Latin America. A multidisciplinary collection of invited chapters edited by Black and intended for introductory courses on Latin America, the new fourth edition chronicles the region's ongoing struggle to attain effective sovereignty, democracy and equity. It has been updated to include chapters on the impact of globalization, changing gender roles, and new social movements, especially of peasants and indigenous peoples. Unlike other Latin America textbooks, this volume is purposefully multidisciplinary, including contributions from historians, geographers, economists, political scientists, sociologists, anthropologists, philosophers, and diplomats. Only contributors well-known for their expertise on specific relevant topics are invited to contribute to this volume. The multidisciplinary perspective introduces students to the history, geography, politics, and culture of Latin America. This fourth edition is streamlined yet includes a special focus on significant current events and trends.  Information

Latin America in the Era of the Cuban Revolution: Revised Edition (Hardcover), by Thomas C. Wright. Praeger Publishers; Rev Sub edition (October 30, 2000).
After Fidel Castro's guerrilla war against dictator Fulgencio Batista triumphed on January 1, 1959, the Cuban Revolution came to be seen as a major watershed in Latin American history. The three decades following Castro's victory gradually marginalized Cuba from the Latin American mainstream. But, as long-time Cuba observer Thomas C. Wright shows, the Cuban Revolution owed its vast influence in Latin America to the fact that it embodied the aspirations and captured the imaginations of Latin America's masses as no other political movement had ever done. After reviewing the background to Castro's Cuban Revolution, Wright examines the radical social and economic transformation of Cuba and Castro's efforts to actively promote insurrection against established governments and bourgeois power throughout Latin America. He then analyzes,in detail, the military "revolution" in Peru, the Allende government in Chile, and the Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua. Then Wright looks at the phenomena that affected all or major parts of Latin America--the impact of fidelismo, U.S. responses to revolution, rural guerrilla warfare, urban guerrilla warfare, and the new-style institutional military regimes created to fight revolution. He concludes with a summary of the rise and fall of Cuban influence in the hemisphere and offers an overview of the Latin American political landscape in the 1990s. An engaging synthesis for students and scholars interested in the Cuban Revolution and its impact on Latin America in the second half of the twentieth century.  Information

Political Violence and the Construction of National Identity in Latin America (Hardcover), by Chris McNab and Peter Lambert (Editors). Palgrave Macmillan (November 28, 2006).
This highly topical volume seeks to analyze the intimate but under-studied relationship between the construction of national identity in Latin America and the violent struggle for political power that has defined Latin American history since independence.  The theoretical framework is complemented by a series of tightly structured and fascinating case studies, written by an international team of specialists and spanning a range of Latin American countries. The result is an original and fascinating contribution to an increasingly important field of study.  Information

Revolution!: South America and the Rise of the New Left (Hardcover), by Nikolas Kozloff. Palgrave Macmillan (April 1, 2008).
In the past five years, Latin America's new cadre of leftist leaders have been struggling to shake off the legacies of faltering economies and military dictatorships that have long haunted the region. Kozloff (Hugo Chavez: Oil, Politics, and the Challenge to the U.S.) offers a series of snapshots of steady transformation, focusing heavily on Venezuela's Chavez and key issues like oil, media and multiculturalism. Compiling current anecdotes and concise historical summaries, Kozloff describes a number of overlapping trends in the region, such as indigenous rights movements and revived labor unions, as well as a widespread desire for economic independence from the United States. Kozloff interprets these similarities as proof of increasing regional integration, but fails to provide adequate hard evidence. If anything, he succeeds in showing how the countries he writes about have moved away from cookie-cutter solutions and are each working to develop equitable societies on their own terms.  Information

State Terrorism in Latin America: Chile, Argentina, and International Human Rights (Latin American Silhouettes) (Hardcover), by Thomas Wright. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. (February 28, 2007).
This cogent book examines the tragic development and ultimate resolution of Latin America's human rights crisis of the 1970s and 1980s. Thomas Wright focuses especially on state terrorism in Chile under General Augusto Pinochet (1973D1990) and in Argentina during the Dirty War (1976D1983). He offers a nuanced exploration of the reciprocal relationship between Argentina and Chile and human rights movements, clearly demonstrating how state terrorism in these countries strengthened the international human rights lobby and how, in turn, that more powerful lobby ultimately helped bring repressors to justice. These intertwined themes make this book important reading not only for Latin Americanists but for students of human rights and international relations as well. Information

Terrorism And Threats To U.S. Interests In Latin America: Hearing Before The Committee On Armed Services, U.S. House Of Representatives (Paperback), by Jim Saxton (Editor). Diane Pub Co (September 2000).   Information

The Lima Embassy Siege And Latin American Terrorists (Terrorism in Today's World) (Library Binding), by Paul Brewer. Gareth Stevens Publishing (December 15, 2005). Information

The Pinochet Affair: State Terrorism and Global Justice (Paperback), by Roger Burbach. Zed Books (August 12, 2004).
The case of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet was among the most sensational of recent international attempts to prosecute human rights violators. Few contemporary figures have galvanized progressive and socialist opinion like Pinochet, and indeed his sins, the overthrow of a legally installed president and the subsequent murder of 3,000 people by most estimates, are unpardonably atrocious. Burbach's excoriation of his subject, which unfolds in biographical material about Pinochet and in a summary of the drawn-out legal process--ultimately a failure--to put him on trial, is more than justified by the historical facts. Burbach, associated with the University of California at Berkeley, performs the organization and citation of these facts in a scholastically capable manner, which increases his work's general-interest value. It is also sympathetic to Pinochet's initial political victim, Salvador Allende, which affects the author's objectivity about Allende's policy of collectivizing the Chilean economy; however, Burbach proves a reliable guide to the activities of the opposition Pinochet provoked.  Information

The Politics of Antipolitics: The Military in Latin America (Latin American Silhouettes) (Hardcover), by Thomas Davies. SR Books; Rev Upd edition (October 28, 1997).
Latin America is moving toward democracy. But is the civilian government firmly in power? Or is the military still influencing policy and holding the elected politicians in check under the guise of guarding against corruption, instability, economic uncertainty, and other excesses of democracy? The editors of this work, Brian Loveman and Thomas M. Davies, Jr., argue that with or without direct military rule, antipolitics persists as a foundation of Latin American politics. This study examines the origins of antipolitics, traces its nineteenth- and twentieth-century history, and focuses on the years from 1965 to 1995 to emphasize the somewhat illusory transitions to democracy. This third edition of The Politics of Antipolitics has been revised and updated to focus on the post-Cold War era.   Information

Vigilantism and the State in Modern Latin America: Essays on Extralegal Violence (Hardcover), by Martha K. Huggins (Editor). Praeger Publishers (November 30, 1991).
According to the Latin American political analysts and scholars who contributed to this volume, free elections during the 1980s largely served to disguise rather than diminish institutional repressiveness and the reality of economic, political, and social disintegration that is occurring in many Latin American countries. This book is the first work of research to deal with the violence--on the part of both states and citizens--that is the most visible expression of that breakdown. Describing the nature and causes of Latin American vigilantism, the authors explore its impact within the larger sociopolitical system and the relationship between vigilantism and political transition. Part I is devoted to citizen violence, including mob lynchings; the work of the justiceiros (self-appointed or privately employed "enforcers"); and citizen uprisings against the police. Part II is a discussion of death squads in Peru, Guatemala, and Colombia and their use by the state to achieve specific social or political objectives. Part III explores the debate over violence, legislative solutions, and national security. The final section examines on-duty extra-legal police violence in several countries and the contribution of U.S. police training to state-supported terror. The authors' analyses indicate that vigilantism results from and at the same time fosters authoritarian state structures whose economic dependence on foreign powers deepens the cycle of poverty, repression, and violence. An important source of data and analysis on a largely neglected topic, this work will be of interest to a general audience concerned with human rights, to policymakers and their critics, and to scholars in the fields of criminology, comparative justice, and Latin American studies.   Information

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