Average Levels of Democracy

This graph (Figure 1 from the Mainwaring, et al. article we read earlier) shows the strong downturn in levels of democracy for the region in the 1970s. The lowest point for the region as a whole is in the mid-70s. While democracy begins to recover in South America in the early 1980s, brutal wars targeting indigenous and peasant populations in Central America continued through the 1980s. Chile is also late in returning to democracy, holding its first democratic elections since 1973 in December 1989, long after most of its neighbors have already democratized.

Click here for a larger version of this graph (.pdf)