Research And Development Process Of Latin American Politics

Political development, also referred to as the process of political modernization, isthe evolution of a country’s political system from the low end to the high end, as well asfrom simple form to the more complex one. The political development research includesthe study of main stages of political evolution, leading political forms in various stages ofpolitical development, the salient features and influencing factors of the process, as wellas possible future trends. By studying the political evolution process of Latin Americaand its features, this research intends to enrich the theory of political development andprovide useful reference for our country.Latin America is an important developing region. Since its independence in theearly19th century, Latin America has experienced a long exploring process on the roadof political development and undergone various development stages such as caudilloautocracy, populism, bureaucratic authoritarianism and representative democracy. Sinceentering the21st century, Latin American countries have been exploring democraticpolitical systems suited to its own conditions. As a political development “laboratory”,Latin America provides a lot of examples and cases for the study in this area. Lessonsand experiences can be learned from the course of political development in LatinAmerica for a better political development in other developing countries.Currently, China is undergoing a critical stage in the construction and developmentof socialist democratic politics. The general objective for comprehensive reform adoptedin the Third Plenary Session of the18thCentral Committee of CPC is to promote themodernization of national governance systems and governance capacity. To achieve thisgoal, China will further promote the development of socialist political civilization anddevelop people’s democracy in pursuit of political modernization. Latin Americancountries and China are developing countries with similar development levels. Study onthe process of political development in Latin American countries and its experiences andlessons learned will be of great reference value for the construction of politicalcivilization and political modernization of China.This research paper consists of the following parts: introduction part describes themain research content, theory framework, structure and literature summary; first chapterdiscusses political system in Pre-Columbus times and colonial times; second chapterdescribes the political development in Latin America from the independence in early19th century to the first decades of20th century, with focus on the features, developing process and effects of caudillo system; third chapter analyzes the predominant politicalforms between the30s and70s of20th century such as populism and bureaucraticauthoritarianism; fourth chapter describes the democratization in Latin America,including the transition, consolidation and deepening of the democracy; fifth chapterserves as the summary of Latin America political development process; and theconclusions will be presented in the final section of the paper.After making panoramic analysis and discussion on the Latin American politicalprocess, this paper concludes, experience from Latin America suggests that fordeveloping countries the main task of political development process is to establish anddevelop political system according to its own economic and social conditions in eachstage instead of setting as eventually target the establishment of representativedemocratic system in pursuit of the Western pattern. History experience indicates that,due to fail to promote political development according to its own economic and socialconditions, Latin American countries are used to undergoing twists and turns in itspolitical development process. Nowadays, after long-term efforts of exploration, someLatin America countries have entered the phase of civic democracy and are expected tofind a path of democracy with its own characteristics. China should learn from thelessons of Latin American political development by strengthening the study based ondiachronic structure, grasp the relationship between political stability and politicaldevelopment, and promote political modernization according to its own nationalconditions keeping the balance of political, economic and social development.