ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the historical record of Latin American democracies under economic stress, but straightforward comparison of the current crisis. Karen Remmer argues that the debt crisis has so far provoked neither instability nor democratic breakdown; indeed, the crisis actually seems to have accelerated the shift away from authoritarian rule. If, therefore, the crisis-collapse linkage has been overstated for the Depression, we have even less reason to expect its repetition. Remmer downplays the type of regime and offers instead three factors as mediators between the crisis and economic management: the scope of economic problems confronting the country, the international political context, and the political dynamic established by prior events and political choices. Threats to inclusionary democracies are more likely to stem from socioeconomic inequality and resistance. In sum, Prof. Remmer has shown persuasively that the fledgling democracies will not collapse under the weight of the debt crisis.
