5th Edition

Latin America Its Problems and Its Promise: A Multidisciplinary Introduction

By Jan Knippers Black Copyright 2011
    622 Pages
    by Routledge

    620 Pages
    by Routledge

    Now in a fifth edition, Latin America has been updated to reflect the region's growing optimism as economies stabilize, trade diversifies, and political systems become more participatory. This multidisciplinary survey of Latin American history, politics, and society features invited contributions from authorities in a variety of fields. New sections address current events including deforestation in Costa Rica and Brazil, emerging social movements, Ecuador's new constitution, and Obama's stated objectives to repair U.S. relations with the region. In addition, key topics (such as women and Latin American politics, socialist governments and anti-American sentiment, Argentina's deteriorating economy, and Colombia's struggle with military and narcotics issues) receive expanded and revitalized treatment. Other updated material covers outcomes of recent elections in Bolivia, Brazil, and Nicaragua, among others. Through a hybrid thematic and regional organization, this text provides an essential foundation for introductory courses on Latin America.

    1. Introduction: Latin America Leading the Learning Curve [Jan Knippers Black]

    Part 1: The Land and the People

    2 Landscape and Settlement Patterns [Alfonso Gonzalez]

    3 The Indian Populations of Latin America [Karl H. Schwerin]

    4 A Harmonizing and Disharmonizing Human and Natural Environments [David Stea and G. Shane Lewis]

    Part 2: Historical Setting

    5. Colonial Latin America [Peter Bakewell]

    6. Latin America Since Independence: An Overview [Michael Conniff]

    Part 3: Economic and Social Structures

    7. Latin American Economies Restructure, Again [William P. Glade]

    8. Social Structure and Change in Latin America [Henry Veltmeyer and James Petras]

    9. Strategies and Trends in Latin American Activism [Wendy Muse Sinek]

    Part 4: Political Processes and Trends

    10. Participation and Political Process: The Collapsible Pyramid [Jan Knippers Black]

    11. Women and Latin American Politics: Participation, Citizenship, and Democracy [Jane S. Jaquette]

    12. Globalization, Insecurity, and Crisis in the Americas [Jorge Nef]

    Part 5: External Relations

    13. International Relations in Latin America: Conflict and Cooperation [James Lee Ray]

    14. The United States and Latin America: Into a New Era [Wayne S. Smith]

    Part 6: Mexico and Central America

    15. Mexico: A Revolution Laid to Rest? [Fred P. Harris and Martin C. Needler]

    16. Central America: From Revolution to "Low-Intensity Democracies" [Thomas W. Walker and Christine J. Wade]

    17. Panama and the Canal [Steve C. Ropp]

    Part 7: Cuba and the Caribbean

    18. The Cuban Revolution [Nelson P. Valdés]

    19. The Caribbean: The Structure of Modern-Conservative Societies [Anthony P. Maingot]

    Part 8: The Andes

    20. Colombia's Split-Level Realities Jan Knippers Black [William H. Godnick]

    21. Venezuela: The Challenge to a "Model Democracy" [Steve Ellner]

    22. Ecuador: Political Turmoil, Social Mobilization, and a Turn Toward the Left [Pablo Andrade, A. Liisa L. North]

    23. Peru: Precarious Democracy amid Dependent Development in a Divided Nation [Cynthia McClintock]

    24. Bolivia: An Indigenous Movement Consolidates Power [José Z. Garcia]

    Part 9: Brazil and the Southern Cone

    25. Brazil: From Military Regime to Workers' Party Government [David Fleischer]

    26. Chile: The Development, Breakdown, and Recovery of Democracy [J. Samuel Valenzuela and Arturo Valenzuela]

    27. Argentina: Decline and Revival [Peter Calvert]

    28. Uruguay and Paraguay: An Arduous Transition Diego [Abente Brun and Michael Danielson]

    29. Conclusion: A New Kind of Togetherness [Jan Knippers Black]

    Biography

    Jan Knippers Black is professor of international policy studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California, a Graduate School of Middlebury College. She has authored or edited numerous books, including Development in Theory and Practice: Paradigms and Paradoxes, Second Edition (Routledge).