Development and Democratic Consolidation: The Dominican Republic, Guatemala, and Peru in Comparative Perspective

Now that democracy is returning to many parts of the developing world studies that focus on modernization are becoming popular once again. The much criticized hypothesis proposed by Seymour M. Lipset over three decades ago, which argued that socioeconomic development was an important factor in democratic development, has reemerged. This hypothesis is studied with respect to three Latin American countries that experienced recent dramatic transitions - the Dominican Republic in 1978, Peru in 1980, and Guatemala in 1985. It is discovered that the Lipset hypothesis does indeed help to partly explain democratization in the three Latin America cases presented. As Lipset and others have repeatedly pointed out, however, socioeconomic development appeared to be simply one of several important factors promoting democratic inauguration and consolidation. Socioeconomic development may be influential, but it is by no means a sufficient cause for promoting stable democracy.