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date: 11 April 2021

Abstract and Keywords

Strong leadership in the form of the divine right of kings was the model in the countries that colonized Latin America. In different ways its twenty countries inherited that tradition. With the exception of Chile, Costa Rica, Uruguay, and Colombia, authoritarianism was most common until the late 1980s. It was then that the current wave of democracy arrived in the area. By the beginning of the twenty-first century nineteen of the twenty countries had elected presidents. Only Cuba was an exception.

Keywords: authoritarianism, democracy, military, dictatorship, transition

Harvey Kline

Harvey F. Kline is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Alabama. He has studied Colombia since 1964 and has written eight books about Colombian politics, most recently Historical Dictionary of Colombia, Showing Teeth to the Dragons: State-Building by Colombian President Álvaro Uribe Vélez, 2002–2006, and Chronicle of a Failure Foretold: The Peace Process of Colombian President Andrés Pastrana. In addition he was contributing coeditor of Latin American Politics and Development, which has been published in seven editions, and coauthor of Introduction to Latin American Politics and Development. Currently he is researching the second term of Colombian President Álvaro Uribe.

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