| Revolution and Reaction: The Diffusion of Authoritarianism in Latin America Contributor(s): Weyland, Kurt (Author) |
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ISBN: 1108728839 ISBN-13: 9781108728836 Publisher: Cambridge University Press OUR PRICE: $38.94 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: May 2019 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Political Science | American Government - General - History | Latin America - South America |
| Dewey: 980.03 |
| LCCN: 2019000683 |
| Physical Information: 0.6" H x 6" W x 9" (1.05 lbs) 320 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Why did so many Latin American leftists believe they could replicate the Cuban Revolution in their own countries, and why did so many rightists fear the spread of Communism? Cognitive-psychological insights about people's distorted inferences and skewed interest calculations explain why the left held exaggerated hopes and why the right experienced excessive dread. The resulting polarization provoked a powerful backlash in which the right uniformly defeated the left. To forestall the feared spread of revolution, the military in many countries imposed authoritarian regimes and brutally suppressed left-wingers. Overly worried about the advance of Cuban-inspired radicalism as well, the United States condoned and supported the installation of dictatorship, but Latin American elites took the main initiative in these regressive regime changes. With a large number of primary and secondary sources, this book documents how the misperceptions on both sides of the ideological divide thus played a crucial role in the frequent destruction of democracy. |
Contributor Bio(s): Weyland, Kurt: - Kurt Weyland utilizes a distinctive theoretical approach that draws on cognitive-psychological insights to elucidate crucial political phenomena. He is the author of four books and approximately fifty journal articles and book chapters. His previous book about waves of democratization, Making Waves, (Cambridge, 2014), won the book award from American Political Science Association's Comparative Democratization section. |