THE PARADOXES OF CONTEMPORARY DEMOCRACY - FORMAL, PARTICIPATORY, AND SOCIAL DIMENSIONS

Current strides toward formal democracy outside the advanced industria l countries appear to be combined with movements away from participato ry democracy and equality. We analyze this apparent paradox, focusing on Latin America. Our theoretical framework is based on our earlier co mparative historical analysis of the relationship between capitalist d evelopment and democracy and on the literature on political participat ion and social democracy in advanced industrial democracies. Three clu sters of power-the balance of class power, structure of the state and state-society relations, and international power structures-and their interaction consistently explain progress toward limited formal democr acy and mounting obstacles to greater participation and socioeconomic equality.