ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the alternative “Conflict” and “Consensus” paradigms in order to understand better the context, out of which “The Corporative Model” emerged, and some reservations and qualifications regarding “The Corporative Model” itself. A period in which an unprecedented amount of scholarly research and official attention has been devoted to Latin America, two major models—a “consensus” model and a “conflict” model—have been widely employed to analyze the processes and vicissitudes of Latin American development and underdevelopment. In both the consensus and the conflict models, the peculiar Iberic-Mediterranean experiences of Spain and Portugal have been largely ignored. The framework has proposed for the study of socioeconomic development and political change in Latin America may be termed the “corporative model.” Corporatism as used refers to an historic and continuing aspect of political culture and sociopolitical organization that appears to be an integral part of the Iberic-Latin tradition.
