ABSTRACT
This chapter takes stock of past achievements and limitations in comparative political studies on Latin America. It examines the present state of comparative work in Latin American political science. The chapter presents methodological and analytical discussion about the usefulness of intraregional comparison and its role in social science research. Articulations and feedback circuits between local and supranational phenomena pose new challenges for comparative analysis. The way in which political agents in the Andean subregion construe democracy and politics appears to lack some of the rock-bottom traits that make democracy "feasible" in the classical mode. The consolidation of democracy in contemporary Latin America poses a series of political challenges that can, in turn, help define a critical agenda for research. The chapter discusses some topical areas in which comparative political studies can prove especially useful. It concludes with some reflections on the institutional requirements that will be required for fulfillment of the research agenda.
