Forging Democracy from Below: Insurgent Transitions in South Africa and El Salvador

The recent replacement of authoritarian rule by democracy in both South Africa and El Salvador poses a puzzle: why did the powerful, anti-democratic elites of these countries abandon death squads, apartheid, and the other tools of political repression and take a chance on democracy? Forging Democracy From Below shows how popular mobilization--in El Salvador an effective guerilla army supported by peasant collaboration and in South Africa a powerful alliance of labor unions and poor urban dwellers--forced the elite to the bargaining table, and why a durable settlement and democratic government were the result.

Author: Elisabeth Jean Wood
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 07/12/2000
Pages: 274
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.85lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.00w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9780521788878

Review Citation(s):
Choice 05/01/2001 pg. 1689

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