Economic Reforms in New Democracies A Social-Democratic Approach [Hardcover]

A 1993 assessment of differing experiences of the transition to democracy in the countries of Southern Europe, Latin America and Eastern Europe.This assessment of the experiences of political transition in Southern Europe, Latin America and Eastern Europe implies that the most successful reforms have been those resolved through democratic negotiation as opposed to the big bang approach.This assessment of the experiences of political transition in Southern Europe, Latin America and Eastern Europe implies that the most successful reforms have been those resolved through democratic negotiation as opposed to the big bang approach.In this book the authors assess the experiences of transition in Southern Europe, Latin America and Eastern Europe in order to determine what the conditions for successful transitions are. They argue against the big bang approach, espoused by many advisors to reforming countries, on the grounds that this approach bypasses the newly formed institutions of democracy that ultimately may undermine the necessary consensus to support painful economic reforms. The most successful reforms, they argue, have been those agreed upon through a process of democratic negotiation. A new democracy must offer politically important groups incentives to process their demands within the democratic institutional framework; otherwise, their support will be tenuous and the system may collapse under the strains incurred by painful economic reforms.Introduction; 1. Economic reforms and economic growth: efficiency and politics in Latin America Luiz Carlos Bresser Pereira; 2. Politics and policy: economic reforms in Southern Europe Jos? Mar?a Marawall; 3. Economic reforms, public opinion, and political institutions: Poland in the Eastern European perspective Adam Przeworski; Conclusion; Author index; Subject index. Powerful and poignant, this book invites readers to abandon their old theories and set out on a new path. Kathleen C. Schwartzman, Contemporary SocilC,