03914cam a2200505 a 4500 55416 55416 BJBSDDR 20230410120954.0 ta 020906s2003 njua b 001 0 eng 0691089701 (pbk. : acid-free paper) 0691089698 9780691089706 12919070 DLC DLC spa eng pcc s------ JC 337 B516o 2003 306.2 21 Bermeo, Nancy Gina, 1951- Ordinary people in extraordinary times : the citizenry and the breakdown of democracy / Nancy Bermeo. Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, c2003. xiii, 265 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. Part I: Our literature and interwar Europe -- Heroes or villains? images of citizens and civil society in the literature on democracy -- Ordinary people and the breakdown of democracy in interwar Europe -- -- Part II: South America and our literature revised -- The reluctant coup in Brazil -- The slow-motion coup in Uruguay -- The tragedy of democracy in Chile -- The violent death of democracy in Argentina -- Polarization and the ignorance of elites. For generations, influential thinkers--often citing the tragic polarization that took place during Germany's Great Depression--have suspected that people's loyalty to democratic institutions erodes under pressure and that citizens gravitate toward antidemocratic extremes in times of political and economic crisis. But do people really defect from democracy when times get tough? Do ordinary people play a leading role in the collapse of popular government? Based on extensive research, this book overturns the common wisdom. It shows that the German experience was exceptional, that people's affinity for particular political positions are surprisingly stable, and that what is often labeled polarization is the result not of vote switching but of such factors as expansion of the franchise, elite defections, and the mobilization of new voters. Democratic collapses are caused less by changes in popular preferences than by the actions of political elites who polarize themselves and mistake the actions of a few for the preferences of the many. These conclusions are drawn from the study of twenty cases, including every democracy that collapsed in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution in interwar Europe, every South American democracy that fell to the Right after the Cuban Revolution, and three democracies that avoided breakdown despite serious economic and political challenges. Unique in its historical and regional scope, this book offers unsettling but important lessons about civil society and regime change--and about the paths to democratic consolidation today. Winner of American Political Science Association Comparative Democratization Section Best Book Award 2004 Short-listed for Choice Magazine Outstanding Reference/Academic Book Award 2005 Runner-up for Choice Magazine Outstanding Reference/Academic Book Award 2005 Civil society. Democracy. Authoritarianism. Allegiance. Government, Resistance to. Crises. Elite (Social sciences) Sociedad civil 2278 Democracia 411 Autoritarismo 3582 Lealtad 7631 South America Politics and government Case studies. Table of contents http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/prin051/2002035472.html Sample text http://www.loc.gov/catdir/samples/prin031/2002035472.html Publisher description http://www.loc.gov/catdir/description/prin031/2002035472.html lcc BK llh 0 0 0 0 CS BJB BJB CS 2023-04-10 0 JC 337 B516o 2003 00000122839 2018-10-24 00:00:00 1 2018-10-24 BK