Review by Choice Review
Cohen takes issue with the common understanding that the repression of reforms and democracy and the emergence of military regimes in Latin America during the decades of the 60s and 70s were attributable to attendant structural problems of capitalist development. Instead he favors "an intentional rational-choice explanation" of the breakdown of democracies. He argues that deep socioeconomic and political reforms were not necessarily undermined by structural conditions and that a majority of political elites favored substantial reforms prior to military intervention in Brazil during 1964 and in Chile during 1973. His book offers a critique of structural explanations of democratic breakdowns and elaborates on the rational-choice explanations; then goes on to present a game theory understanding of the collapse of democracy; and concludes by applying his approach to the Chilean and Brazilian cases. The fundamental thesis suggests that economic, state, and class structures do not explain the behavior of actors or the outcomes of their interaction; instead, their goals, preferences, and beliefs become determinate. These outcomes depend, the author insists, on the gradual implementation of serious reform by political elites committed to preserving democracy. The book succeeds in linking its theoretical framework to empirical case studies and in applying a rational-choice approach to political inquiry, a major thrust in contemporary political science. Graduate; faculty.
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
