ABSTRACT
The period 1965 to 1990 saw the breakdowns of democracy, harsh military regimes (bureaucratic authoritarianism in the Southern Cone), and transitions to democracy. Most comparativists emphasize elite polarization as the cause of breakdowns and elite pacts as the foundation for transitions to democracy, consistent with notion of democracy as polyarchy. However, the people were more than just chorus in this drama. Pacts were key to establishing polyarchy but came at a price to democracy. The cases of Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and Brazil support this interpretation.
