Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of maps and tables
- Preface to the third edition
- Preface to the second edition
- Preface to the first edition
- Map 1 Latin America
- Map 2 Per capita gross domestic products 1987, measured in 1986 U.S. dollars. (Source: Inter-American Development Bank, Economic and Social Progress in Latin America, 1988, p. 540.)
- Part I Understanding Latin American politics
- 1 The Latin American predicament
- 2 The rules of the Latin American game
- 3 Players – I
- 4 Players – II
- 5 The stakes in the game
- Part II The political games played in Latin America
- Appendix: Tables
- Index
3 - Players – I
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 October 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of maps and tables
- Preface to the third edition
- Preface to the second edition
- Preface to the first edition
- Map 1 Latin America
- Map 2 Per capita gross domestic products 1987, measured in 1986 U.S. dollars. (Source: Inter-American Development Bank, Economic and Social Progress in Latin America, 1988, p. 540.)
- Part I Understanding Latin American politics
- 1 The Latin American predicament
- 2 The rules of the Latin American game
- 3 Players – I
- 4 Players – II
- 5 The stakes in the game
- Part II The political games played in Latin America
- Appendix: Tables
- Index
Summary
Now we can turn to the players in the Latin American game. In Chapter 2 we defined a player as any individual or group that tries to gain public office or to influence those who do. Political parties, wealthy landowners, and business people come immediately to mind. There are many others: military officers, peasant leaders, labor unions, foreign governments, multinational corporations, priests, and students, just to name a few. But labels tell us little about each of them. They conjure up images, but image and actual power are seldom identical. To know who players are, what they want from politics, and how much clout they wield, we have to examine each of them.
We should also recall that Latin American political systems are not replicas of the North American and Western European ones. Rules are more varied, and less consensus sometimes exists. And interest groups are neither as well financed nor as well organized in Latin America, and they seldom represent as many people as they claim. Some exaggerate the size of their constituencies in order to impress authorities, and many, like peasant leaders, simply cannot communicate with the scattered millions of persons for whom they speak. As a result, our images of them do not always correspond to reality.
As we examine each player, we will ask four questions. First, who are the people involved, and from what social class, regional, or ethnic sector do they come? What do they share in common and how united are they economically, socially, and politically?
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Politics of Latin American Development , pp. 46 - 72Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1990