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Argentine Democracy: The Politics of Institutional Weakness. Edited by Steven Levitsky and María Victoria Murillo. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2006. Pp. xii, 325. Tables. Notes. References. Index. $85.00 cloth; $25.00 paper.
This timely volume is a useful addition to the literature on democratization in Argentina, and it represents an important study on the potential tension between neoliberalism and democracy. The book, which arose out of a 2003 conference at Harvard University's Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, seeks to help explain Argentina's political and economic development since the beginning of Carlos Menem's decade as president. The essays address two important questions. First, why did Argentina, a country that was widely praised for its radical market-oriented reforms during the Menem years (1989-1999), undergo a dramatic economic collapse shortly after Menem left office? Second, how did Argentine democracy endure the profound economic crisis? In the book's first chapter, the editors identify institutional weakness as a major challenge to both economic growth and democratic stability in Argentina. However, the most thought...