Democracy and Accountability Making the Transition from...

The need to acquire human rights can, at times, motivate social and political groups to move mountains. In the 1980s, authoritarian regimes were representative of these large obstacles. This struggle is not new to Latin Americans. Throughout their history, from slavery, which still exists today, to political and religious oppression, Latin Americans have continually fought to gain basic human rights. Americans have come to see these rights as rooted in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. In the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, expanding social-political views have extended views of basic human rights into the realms of education and healthcare, to name a couple. In countries such as Brazil, the authoritarian†¦show more content†¦Political extremists from both the left and right wings of the spectrum held a deep mistrust of one another. The Cold War, a politically ideological shadow war fought on a global scale, left no nation on Earth unaffected. In 1959, communists, a leftist political based ideology, won Cuba. A guerilla army, led by charismatic leaders such as Fidel Castro, had defeated a professional army. Where alliances had always been fragile between the left and the right, a growing fear of communist takeovers made the left increasingly vulnerable to political and social polarization. Even politicians in the center, often thought as the bridge between the left and the right, began to distance themselves from those associated with communism or socialism. Since the nineteenth century, Latin American militaries have held both the honorary and mythological position of caretaker for their states. In times of severe economic, political, or social crisis, the professional militaries have seen it as their duty to assume temporary power in order to provide directional relief to national problems. In Chile and Brazil, high-ranking military officers proved able to transition their democratic regimes to authoritarian regimes with the assistance of the conservative (rightist) political base. In the 1952 Chilean presidential elections, General Carlos Ibanez, a former dictator, positioned himself as the only answer to Chileans’ problems andShow MoreRelatedPost-Transitional Justice in Chile and El Salvador: A Comparison1671 Words   |  7 PagesDuring the last quarter of the twentieth century, Latin America was dominated by authoritarian military regimes and immense human rights violations. Especially in Chile and El Salvador, where human rights abuses were rampant during Pinochet’s dictatorship and the Salvadoran civil war. The region is still dealing with the legacy of terror from its authoritarian past. Cath Collins, a professor and researcher in the School of Political Science at the University of Diego Portales in Santiago, Chile,Read MoreThe Political Regime Of Russia2466 Words   |  10 PagesIntroduction Russia has endured a long and substantial history of political regime changes from being a tsarist state, to adopting communism, to a post-communist transition era, and today may be in the process of democratic transition. Russia’s extensive political history is key to understanding the ever-changing political processes within the state. To understand the regime structure in Russia today we must assess and understand their political history, look at critical junctures in Soviet andRead MoreDemocracy in the 20th Centuries Essay1446 Words   |  6 PagesIs democracy possible? Modern democracies have continually developed throughout the 20th century. These democracies have culminated from revolutions,wars, and even economic development. 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The Great Surge offers a pleasant contrast to the quick selling theme in many books and articles regarding a lack of advancement, insisting that standards of living globally have improved greatly since the 60s, and even faster since the 90s, after many factors that stunted progress were eliminatedRead MoreFactors Affecting The Electoral Elections Of Zimbabwe And South Africa1345 Words   |  6 PagesAfter just twenty years of attainment of national independence from United Kingdom, in the year 2000, Zimbabwe experienced what can only be termed a major setback in its transition to democracy. Without threat of defeat from opposition parties, the ruling party ZANU PF had enjoyed dominance in Zimbabwe, where they enjoyed victory after victory in elections. Zimbabwe Parliamentary Elections of 2000 saw ZANU PF face form idable opposition from the newly formed Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). However