CIVIL SOCIETY, HUMAN RIGHTS STRUGGLES AND DEMOCRATIZATION IN ARGENTINA AND RUSSIA: SOME BRIEF COMPARATIVE CONCLUSIONS
CIVIL SOCIETY, HUMAN RIGHTS STRUGGLES AND DEMOCRATIZATION IN ARGENTINA AND RUSSIA: SOME BRIEF COMPARATIVE CONCLUSIONS

Summary/Abstract: The late 1980s and early 90s saw an upsurge in comparative research on civil society in Latin America and Eastern Europe. At the time, scholars supported the idea of a “third wave of democratization,” and Latin America was presented as a model for post-communist countries. Civil societies in both regions were analyzed comparatively. Emblematically, the Russian Soldiers’ Mothers were often compared with the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo in Argentina. However, the further evolution of post-communist societies soon discouraged further comparison. This was especially the case for Russia, where social and political change took unforeseen paths. Scholars came to underline the specificity of Russian social structures and traditions to explain this. Given this divergence, why revisit the comparison between Russia and Argentina today? Our answer is that two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, comparative research appears interesting again because the illusions of transitology have disappeared and new research perspectives emerge out of a recognition of the specificity of historical circumstances.

• Details
• Contents