ABSTRACT
Peru began the period with a return to democratic civilian rule under the same man the military had ousted in 1968. As noted for Brazil and Argentina, outstanding political leadership was not a major factor in their climb out of the depths of the political inferno that had gotten under way in parts of the region during the late 1970s and dominated the 1980s. Peru had a rocky, uneven, and essentially unconsolidated transition back to civilian rule and competitive political life. Venezuela's political development bogged down during the 1980s and 1990s, dramatically so when compared to the great forward movement of the preceding two decades. The period began with the Pinochet regime firmly entrenched in power and beginning to gain international acceptance, as Franco had managed to do in Spain by the late 1940s. Bolivia's progress toward democracy after 1980 was generally positive and, in light of where it started, highly encouraging.
