Social movements, elites and political culture in Latin America

Abstract

This article examines the relation ship between political culture, counterculture social movements and political and economic elites in Latin America. During the last twenty five years, the collective action of the people has distanced itself from corporatist and clientelist practices by adopting ideasand discourses that are highly democratic. In the past, corporatism and clientelism broadly characterized most political regimes in Latin America. Countering elitist theories of democracy and of "transitology", this paper sustains that upper-class political practices are still far from being democratic.