ABSTRACT
It is possible to argue that Latin America is no more than a geographical expression, and that, rather than trying to generalize across a range of different countries, we need to focus on the history of the individual republics. No Latin American country has achieved a genuine ‘first world’ standard of living. Toward the end of the 1970s, the vast majority of Latin American republics were under authoritarian rule. The Latin American state is responsible for far fewer abuses of human rights than it was in the authoritarian past. There is a considerable literature on democratic consolidation in Latin America, but it is ambiguous. At least four different ideas or approaches can be detected in the literature on democratic consolidation in Latin America. They are, first, the game-theoretical idea; second, longevity; third, legitimacy; fourth, the ‘checklist’ approach. The international community as a whole clearly matters to Latin America, but tends to send out different messages.
