New Kellogg Series Books Explore Democracy and Dictatorship
New books in the Kellogg Institute’s two series with the University of Notre Dame Press explore how citizens in Mexico and Spain interact with contemporary democratic institutions on the one hand and confront memories of Franco’s dictatorship on the other.
In The Sources of Democratic Responsiveness in Mexico, Matthew R. Cleary shows that contrary to conventional wisdom, electoral competition has not caused municipal governments in contemporary Mexico to be more responsive to voters. Instead, he attributes responsiveness to a qualitative shift in participatory politics that began in the 1970s. He demonstrates the value of thinking broadly about the strategies that citizens use to influence the behavior of politicians.
The book is the latest in the Kellogg Institute’s Monograph Series. Most volumes in the series focus on Latin America, with a particular emphasis on Kellogg’s core expertise in democratization and development.
According to Institute Director Scott Mainwaring, who serves as series editor, “the book is a major contribution to democratic theory and an excellent addition to the literature on Mexico.”
Cleary, who majored in government at Notre Dame and earned his doctorate in political science from the University of Chicago, is now an associate professor of political science in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University.
Unearthing Franco’s Legacy: Mass Graves and the Recovery of Historical Memory in Spain is the most recent addition to the Contemporary European Politics and Society Series.
During the Spanish Civil War and the 36 years of the Franco dictatorship, thousands of suspected political dissidents and their families were systematically killed and buried in anonymous mass graves. Faculty Fellow Samuel Amago and Notre Dame Professor of Spanish Carlos Jerez-Farrán are the editors of a new book that explores the political, cultural, and historical debate ensuing in Spain as the discovery and exhumation of such graves has forced citizens to publicly confront Franco’s legacy.
The essays by historians, anthropologists, literary scholars, journalists, and cultural analysts collected in this volume represent the first interdisciplinary analysis of how present-day Spain has sought to come to terms with the violence of Franco’s regime.
For more information: undpress.nd.edu
