Volume 33, Number 6 · April 10, 1986
On Democracy in Latin America
By Albert O. Hirschman
1. The point of departure of any serious thought about the chances for the consolidation of democracy in Latin America must surely be pessimism.[1] The principal reason is simply that the historical record is so unpromising. In this respect, the recent disintegration of seemingly well-entrenched authoritarian regimes in Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay, and the apparent vigor of the new democratic currents in these countries are not necessarily encouraging. It looks as though the pervasive characteristic of any political regime in the more developed Latin American countries is instability: it affects even authoritarian political forms.
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