Description
Book SynopsisThis volume contains Guillermo O'Donnell's qualitative theoretical study of the quality of democracy and Vargas Cullell's description and analysis of the empirical data he gathered on the quality of democracy in Costa Rica.
Trade Review"This book deserves to be carefully read by anyone interested in democracy, and especially democracy in Latin America. Its main innovations are probably methodological and empirical rather than theoretical. . . . [T]he book will probably stimulate fruitful arguments about whether or not we need to re-evaluate Latin American democracies in light of the notion of democratic quality. It is a challenging, important, and complex volume." —The Americas
"The primary goal of this unique and compelling book is to provide the theoretical and empirical foundations for what the authors hope will be a new wave of interest in the quality of democracy." —Perspectives on Politics
"...striking individual insights...."—Political Studies Review
“O'Donnell fundamentally re-envisions the term 'democracy,' no longer the once ubiquitous-now automatically assumed-polyarchy, but something that draws on literature on democracy, human development, and human rights to produce a radically new definition. Each of these areas, O'Donnell argues, bases its claims on the idea of human agency.” —Latin American Research Review
“Guillermo O'Donnell is one of the most prominent contemporary political scientists. His work will have a major impact on rethinking the relationship between democracy, the state, and human development. He calls for a profound rethinking of the state’s role in democratic theory and in human development.” —Scott Mainwaring, University of Notre Dame
