Descrição
This article examines the interplay between economic crises and the democratization process in Latin America. Its approach is theoretically ambitious in that it includes restrictive and irrational elements in the transition. Specifically, it examines the role of related crises, for example, those caused by the constitutional demands of democracy and how this play into capitalist development. What seems to emerge is some sort of similarity between the experiences of Latin America, Southern and Eastern Europe and other authoritarian polities thoug this conclusion is preliminary.||This article examines the interplay between economic crises and the democratization process in Latin America. Its approach is theoretically ambitious in that it includes restrictive and irrational elements in the transition. Specifically, it examines the role of related crises, for example, those caused by the constitutional demands of democracy and how this play into capitalist development. What seems to emerge is some sort of similarity between the experiences of Latin America, Southern and Eastern Europe and other authoritarian polities thoug this conclusion is preliminary.||O artigo se dirige à conexão entre crises econômicas e a consolidação democrática na América Latina. Argumenta-se em favor de uma abordagem teoricamente ambiciosa, ante enfoques restritivos ou irracionalistas sobre as transições. O papel das crises conjunturais é relacionado à temática institucional (ou “constitucional”) da democracia, em sua articulação com o desenvolvimento capitalista. A lógica que parece emergir de uma aproximação entre as experiências da América Latina, na Europa Meridional, de outros autoritarismos e da derrocada do Leste Europeu é explorada de forma preliminar.
