Beyond Sovereignty: Collectively Defending Democracy in the Americas

by Tom Farer (Editor)

Overview

How can external actors—governments, regional organizations, the United Nations, financial institutions, nongovernmental organizations—affect the process of democratic transition and consolidation? In Beyond Sovereignty, leading scholars and policy experts examine the experiences of a variety of Latin American nations and the relevant characteristics of intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations to draw lessons that can be applied globally. The contributors begin by discussing evolving views of sovereignty, democracy, and regional security. They review the past efforts and present capacity of various international organizations—the United Nations, the Organization of American States, external financial institutions, and transnational nongovernmental organizations—to further efforts to deepen democracy. They also offer case studies of how these organizations related to democratic development in Chile, El Salvador, Haiti, and Peru. The last section applies lessons learned to two problematic regimes: Cuba and Mexico.

This timely and useful collection will be of interest to all who study democratic transition and consolidation, comparative politics, Latin American politics, international organizations, and international relations more generally. Contributors: Domingo E. Acevedo, Larry Diamond, Jorge I. Dominguez, Denise Dresser, Stephanie J. Eglinton, Patricia Weiss Fagen, Tom Farer, David P. Forsythe, Alicia Frohmann, Claudio Grossman, Anita Isaacs, Anthony P. Maingot, Joan M. Nelson, David Scott Palmer, Karen L. Remmer, Kathryn A. Sikkink, and Fernando R. Tesón.

"Concern over democracy's uncertain prospects inspired the project that culminates in this volume. Two assumptions shaped the collective effort of its contributors: one, that external actors can contribute to the defense and enhancement of democracy, and two, that tolerance for such external action has increased dramatically—even measures that would once have been widely condemned as impermissible intervention are acquiring a remarkable aura of legitimacy. An increase in tolerance is least marked, however, for unilateral action of a coercive nature, which in the Western Hemisphere usually means action that the Unites States has taken on its own initiative."—from the Introduction

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801851667
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	05/30/1996
Series:	An Inter-American Dialogue Book
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	456
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Tom Farer is professor of law and international relations and director of the Joint Degree Program in Law and International Relations at American University. His books include The Grand Strategy of the United States in Latin America and U.S. Ends and Means in Central America.An Inter-American Dialogue Book

Table of Contents

Foreword
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. Collectively Defending Democracy in the Western Hemisphere: Introduction and Overview
Part I: Theory: Sovereignty and Democracy in the 1990s
Chapter 2. Changing Perceptions of Domestic Jurisdiction and Intervention
Chapter 3. Democracy in Latin America: Degrees, Illusions, and Directions for Consolidation
Part II: Practice and Policy: The Role of Nonstate Actors
Chapter 4. The United Nations, Democracy, and the Americas
Chapter 5. The Organization of American States and the Protection of Democracy
Chapter 6. Nongovernmental Organizations, Democracy, and Human Rights in Latin America
Chapter 7. The International Donor Community: Conditioned Aid and the Promotion and Defense of Democracy
Part III: Practice and Policy: National, Transnational, and Foreign Actors
Chapter 8. Haiti: Sovereign Consent Versus State-Centric Sovereignty
Chapter 9. El Salvador: Lessons in Peace Consolidation
Chapter 10. Chile: External Actors and the Transition to Democracy
Chapter 11. Peru: Collectively Defending Democracy in the Western Hemisphere
Chapter 12. International Support for Democratization: A Map and Some Policy Guidelines Derived from the Four Case Studies
Chapter 13. External Pressures and Domestic Constraints: The Lessons of the Four Case Studies
Part IV: Two Impending Challenges
Chapter 14. Cuba in the International Community in the 1990s: Sovereignty, Human Rights, and Democracy
Chapter 15. Treading Lightly and Without a Stick: International Actors and the Promotion of Democracy in Mexico
Notes
Notes on Contributors
Index

Editorial Reviews

A valuable collection of essays edited by a well-respected law professor and human rights activist who directs the Law and International Relations program at American University, this volume focuses on the tension between collective action for the defense of democracy and traditional notions of sovereignty in the Western Hemisphere.
—Foreign Affairs

From the Publisher

A valuable collection of essays edited by a well-respected law professor and human rights activist who directs the Law and International Relations program at American University, this volume focuses on the tension between collective action for the defense of democracy and traditional notions of sovereignty in the Western Hemisphere.

Foreign Affairs