Re-imagining Democracy in Latin America and the Caribbean, 1780-1870

Re-imagining Democracy in Latin America and the Caribbean, 1780-1870 examines the ways in which the ancient concept of “democracy” was re-imagined as relevant to the modern world in Latin America and the Caribbean between the later eighteenth and later nineteenth centuries. In most regions this process largely followed the French Revolution, while in Latin America it more closely followed independence movements of the 1810s and 20s.

A sequel to two previous volumes edited by Joanna Innes and Mark Philp, Re-imagining Democracy in the Age of Revolutions: America, France, Britain, Ireland 1750-1850 and Re-imagining Democracy in the Mediterranean 1770-1860, this volume studies how a variety of political actors and commentators used “democracy” to characterize or debate modern conditions through the ensuing half-century. By 1870, it was firmly established in mainstream political lexicons throughout the region.

Here, specialists in the field contribute wide-ranging accounts of aspects of the context in which the word was re-imagined, highlighting state formation, race, constitutionalism, urban political culture, education, and outside views of the region — the six concluding chapters explore differences in its fortune from location to location. Ultimately, this edited volume deftly explores the history of the language of democracy and encourages new debates about its meaning.

Eduardo Posada-Carbó is Professor of the History and Politics of Latin America at the University of Oxford and William Golding Senior Research Fellow at Brasenose College.

Joanna Innes is Senior Research Fellow at Somerville College and Professor Emerita of the University of Oxford.

Mark Philp is Professor of History and Politics at the University of Warwick, and Emeritus Fellow of Oriel College.

I Introduction
1. The Project and the Setting
Joanna Innes
2. The Language of Democracy
Eduardo Posada-Carbó

II Themes
3. Iberian Legacies
Anthony McFarlane
4. Foundations, Ruptures and Fissures in British and French Caribbean Political Culture
Dexnell Peters
5. Emerging States
Natalia Sobrevilla Perea
6. From Caste to Race: Re-imagining Diversity in Spanish America
Nancy P. Appelbaum
7. Democracy and Liberal Constitutionalism
José Antonio Aguilar Rivera and Eduardo Zimmermann
8. Political Cultures and Practices in Spanish South American Cities
Paula Alonso and Marcela Ternavasio
9. Education, Citizenship and Contesting the Future
Nicola Miller
10. Democracy in Latin America and the Caribbean: The View from Elsewhere
Carsten-Andreas Schulz and Mark Petersen

III Language in Local Contexts
11. Articulating Democracy in Hispaniola: Haiti and the Dominican Republic
Emmanuel Lachaud
12. An Empire between Republics: “Democracy” in the Constitutional Monarchy of Brazil
Andréa Slemian
13. Democracy in Mexico
Guy Thomson
14. Democracy, “Pardos” and Slaves in Venezuela
Luis Daniel Perrone
15. The Allure of Democracy in New Granada
Eduardo Posada-Carbó
16. Moderating the Democratic Impetus: Trajectories of Democracy in Chile Juan Luis Ossa

Further Reading
Index