Latin American State Building in Comparative Perspective: Social Foundations of Institutional Order

摘要

From deeply impoverished Haiti to emerging-market Chile, Latin America exhibits a wide spectrum of state capacities in such areas as rule of law and emergency response. In seeking to explain this diversity, Kurtz departs from traditional theories centred on the resource curse, colonial legacies or war, focusing instead on institutional strength as the foundation of reliable government. His book sorts the feeble from the effective in a comparative, historical account that pits neighbour against neighbour: Peru versus Chile and Argentina versus Uruguay.