POLS 1202 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Liberation Theology, Autocracy, Civil Society
26 Sep 2018
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Democracies seem to break out in groups. Southern europe 1974 (greece), 1976 (portugal), 1978 (spain) Nicaragua, el salvador, chile, mexico, and paraguay (and cuba) lagged. Soviet bloc (1989-1991) (some) african liberalization occurs at the same time. Death of franco coincides with regime changes in portugal and greece and then. Increased societal polarization in 60s and 70s, with extremes on the socialist left and the militant right. Right faces counter-reaction to scope of violence. Business and middle class dislike the violence. Fading threat of communism makes military less committed. E. g. on the role of military, land reform. External actor: the role of the church. Liberation theology and increased outreach staring in 1960s. May have contributed to radicalization in 1960s (some) priests act as activists and critics on dictatorships. Church networks used to help organize pro-democracy groups. Tacitly and often explicitly supported coups in 1960s and 70s. U. s. attitudes about democracy correlate with number of coups.
