Two decades ago the mere notion of examining local elections in Latin America would have produced a puzzled look and a simple question: ?Why?? Elections of any sort were limited and suspect if they occurred at all, and local elections were for the vast majority of countries nonexistent. Latin America?s return to democracy in the 1980s marked a new chapter in its political history. During this movement from military to civilian regimes, local elections played a key role in democratization. They represented the breadth and depth of political change occurring in the region. Urban Elections in Democratic Latin America explores the electoral politics of several of the major urban centers and capital cities of democratic Latin America. The primacy of urban centers throughout Latin America magnifies the importance of this study. Latin America is over two-thirds urban, and two of the world?s three largest cities are now in Latin America: the metropolitan areas of Mexico City and Sao Paulo. Previous discussions on electoral politics have focused exclusively on presidential elections. However, democratization requires more than presidential elections; indeed, ultimately it may depend on the presence and vitality of local elections. This text examines the neglected topic of these elections. The chapters analyze the electoral process in ten Latin American countries, including an examination of how local elections have either paralleled or diverged from national election patterns. Each essay begins with an introduction to the country and city in question, followed by a close examination of the electoral experience at the local level. Conclusions focus on identifying patterns and on the importance of local elections in the democratic life of the nation. The following countries are examined: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Contributors to this text include Angel E. !lvarez, Peter Calvert, Henry Dietz, Eduardo Ga

Many countries in Latin America have experienced both rapid urbanization and military involvement in politics. Yet few studies examine how military regimes react to the political pressures that wide-spread urban poverty creates or how the poor operate under authoritative rule. Henry Dietz investigates Lima's poor during the "revolution" of General Juan Velasco (1968-1975). His study examines both the structural conditions promoting poverty and the individual consequences of being poor. The poor join together in several ways to resolve politicized communal needs; Dietz's data indicate that the local neighborhood plays a crucial role in determining modes of involvement. Considerable attention is given to government attempts to encourage and control political activities by the poor. Dietz analyzes the failure of SINAMOS, the regime's mobilization agency, and in so doing raises general questions about corporatist solutions to social problems. The wide range of original survey, informant, and ethnographic data provides much new information on elite-mass relationships in contemporary Latin America. Dietz's research illuminates much that is of concern to scholars and planners dealing with urbanization, poverty, and social policy formation.

As one of South America's larger capital cities, Lima, Peru, is remarkably understudied as a demographic and economic entity unto itself. In this important book, Henry Dietz presents an in-depth historical, sociological, and political analysis of a major Latin American city in the post-World War II period. Dietz examines electoral data for Lima's districts from six censuses conducted between 1940 and 2007, framed against a backdrop of extensive demographic data for the city, to trace the impact of economic collapse and extended insurgency on Lima and its voters. Urbanization in Lima since World War II has at times been rapid, violent, and traumatic, and has resulted in marked social inequalities. Dietz looks at how equity across the city has not in general improved; Lima is today segregated both spatially and socially. Dietz asks if and how a high degree of segregation manifests itself politically as well as socially and spatially. Do urban dwellers living under profound and enduring social segregation consistently support different parties and candidates? As institutional political parties have faded since the 1990s and have been replaced by personalist movements, candidacies, and governments, Dietz explores how voters of different social classes behave. The result is a vital resource for researchers seeking well-contextualized information on elections and economics in Peru. This book will be of interest to scholars of politics or economics, especially in Latin America, but also to a much wider audience interested in how the developments in Lima, Peru, affect the global sociopolitical climate.