In this book Julio Faúndez traces the development of Chilean politics from 1932 to the overthrow of Allende in 1973, focusing in particular on the participation of Marxist parties in Chile's democratic government. Relating the various phases in the evolution of the political system to the concrete problems that had to be faced, Faúndez discusses how class alliances, political mobilization, and the role of organized labor affected developments in the country. His book adds an important new perspective to a perennial topic of debate among politicians and political scientists worldwide.

Through a comparative analysis of the political Left and social movements in Chile and Peru, this book explores the structural and institutional forces which have limited the scope and quality of democracy in contemporary Latin America.

First published in 1991. An implicit thesis of this volume is that popular culture in Chile is more than the total of many individual biographies. It requires a new analysis of society as a whole and of social change. Too often, political scientists and other social analysts have seen social change as proceeding from the top down. One can interpre

At a time when the validity of Marxism is being questioned because of the collapse of the Communist regimes in Eastern Europe, Richard Harris examines the relevance of Marxism and socialism for Latin America and the Caribbean. Dr. Harris discusses recent revolutionary regimes and attempts at socialist transformation in the region in terms of Marxist theory, comparing them with the historical experiences of the Soviet Union, China, Yugoslavia, and Vietnam. The author argues that Marxist theory offers a framework for understanding recent revolutionary transformations as well as the contradictions and limitations of existing democratic regimes in the region. Particular attention is given to revolutionary Cuba, the Allende administration in Chile, the Popular Revolutionary Government in Grenada, the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua, and contemporary leftist parties and movements throughout Latin America. He contends that democratization and the solution of the region's economic and social problems require a democratic socialist project.

A compelling history of the antiregime coalition forged by liberation-theology Catholics and Marxist-Left militants in Chile's urban shantytowns, with groundbreaking contributions to scholarship on human rights, mass social movements, popular protest, and democratization.