POL305Y1 Lecture Notes - Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, Human Development Index, Neoliberalism
Document Summary
Democratic pact/elite governing pack: agreement between political elites to build support for democracy by ensuring victory by centrist and moderate parties and to exclude political forces that might pursue alternative economic and political models. Can be done formally eg party priority or informally to limit official opposition. When one party is in power, there is an agreement that the other party won"t mobilize their supporters. Little indigenous, few natural resource ex gold. So europeans settled there based on small family farming. Few elites because there was a lot of small farmers and groups. The power of elites tied to the church or spanish bureaucracy or export market was limited. Benefits of this dynamic are: 1. Avoided destructive conflicts between liberals and conservatives pulling in 2 different directions for policies. Not enough elites to call shots: 2. Lack of ideological interests facilitated elite compromise and peaceful conflict resolution.