Overview

Emergency Politics in the Third Wave of Democracy aims to make an important contribution to the study of emergency politics by offering an up-to-date study of how it works in practice. Specifically, it studies the uses given to the “regime of exception” mechanism in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru in the first decade of the 21st century and analyzes potential incompatibilities with the two pillars of democratic governability: efficiency and legitimacy. This book offers a thorough review of existing literature on emergency politics, offering conceptual clarification, identifying three types or paradigms of emergency politics (repressive, administrative, and disaster) and pointing to regimes of exception as a useful route to their study. It also provides an overview of emergency politics in Latin America throughout history, pointing to the predominance of regimes of exception and the repressive paradigm. The book describes the continuity of the repressive paradigm in Peruvian emergency politics to deal with both social protest and the apparent threat of organized crime and terrorism, as well as how Bolivia has shifted from a repressive to a disaster paradigm in the face of pressure to deal with climate change. It also analyzes the predominance of an administrative paradigm in Ecuadorian emergency politics in the context of weak institutions and difficulties in implementing policy as well as a populist style of leadership. Ultimately, the book offers some “best practices” in relation to the design and use of regimes of exception in democratic contexts. Other studies on emergency politics tend to focus on legal or formal issues in the context of the United States War on Terror. This study is decidedly political and empirical in focus, offering analysis and interpretation as a result of intensive fieldwork carried out by the author in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru. Consequently, this volume offers important contributions to our understanding of emergency politics in general (with evidence from the periphery) as well as to our understanding of democratization processes in the Third Wave.

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9781498515276

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Reviews

Emergency Politics in the Third Wave of Democracy is a must-read for scholars interested in authoritarian legacies and democratization processes in Latin America. In this unique volume, Claire Wright offers an in-depth analysis of the different paths taken by regimes of exception in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru in the post-transition period, highlighting the ways in which they are at odds with democratic governability. Importantly, she also points to significant attempts to democratize these mechanisms in a brilliant way and offers a very useful series of best practices and recommendations. -- Manuel Alcantara Saez, Universidad de Salamanca

Emergency Politics in the Third Wave of Democracy is a must-read for scholars interested in authoritarian legacies and democratization processes in Latin America. In this unique volume, Claire Wright offers an in-depth analysis of the different paths taken by regimes of exception in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru in the post-transition period, highlighting the ways in which they are at odds with democratic governability. Importantly, she also points to significant attempts to democratize these mechanisms in a brilliant way and offers a very useful series of best practices and recommendations. -- Manuel Alcantara Saez, Universidad de Salamanca An essential study for understanding the politics of emergency and regimes of exception in the 21st century. This important and scholarly work offers a rich conceptual discussion on the terminology and its distinctions, and explores through three Latin American case studies how emergency politics continue to be used with surprising frequency in a region regarded as in a phase of democratic consolidation. The book is an alert for students of politics generally to look more deeply at when and why emergency and exceptional measures are used in contemporary politics. -- Jenny Pearce, University of Bradford

Emergency Politics in the Third Wave of Democracy is a must-read for scholars interested in authoritarian legacies and democratization processes in Latin America. In this unique volume, Claire Wright offers an in-depth analysis of the different paths taken by regimes of exception in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru in the post-transition period, highlighting the ways in which they are at odds with democratic governability. Importantly, she also points to significant attempts to democratize these mechanisms in a brilliant way and offers a very useful series of best practices and recommendations. -- Manuel Alcantara Saez, Universidad de Salamanca An essential study for understanding the politics of emergency and regimes of exception in the 21st century. This important and scholarly work offers a rich conceptual discussion on the terminology and its distinctions, and explores through three Latin American case studies how emergency politics continue to be used with surprising frequency in a region regarded as in a phase of democratic consolidation. The book is an alert for students of politics generally to look more deeply at when and why emergency and exceptional measures are used in contemporary politics. -- Jenny Pearce, University of Bradford This insightful volume expands our understanding of democracy and its discontents in the 21st century. Complementing legal analysis with historical and social context, Emergency Politics extends the framework of securitization from military threat to development and disasters. It is a valuable addition to an understudied dimension of Latin American political institutions, with global reach and policy relevance. -- Alison Brysk, University of California, Santa Barbara

Author Information

Claire Wright is a lecturer at the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León.

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