"The state can be defined, following sociologist Max Weber's (1946 [1919]: 78) classic formulation, as a "human community that (successfully) claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory." In other words, the state is an organization, differentiated from society, that is distinguished from other organizations in that it relies on the use, and the threat of the use, of coercion. It does not plead with citizens to follow the law - for example, by paying taxes. It commands citizens to do things and can coerce them to do these things. The state is a powerful organization, and it wields a kind of power that is distinct from that of economic and cultural organizations. Photo 1.2 connects this definition to the related concept of the Leviathan. We can use Weber's definition of the state to distinguish between communities that have states and stateless communities, which include communities with less specialized and elaborate political organizations such as bands, tribes, and chiefdoms (Service 1971). However, Weber's definition of the state encompasses city-states, empires, and modern states or national states - currently the dominant type of state around the world, including Latin America (Tilly 1990; Mazzuca 2021). Thus, to specify what a modern state or national state is, we should note that, in addition to meeting the criteria of Weber's definition, it has some features that neither city-states nor empires have. In contrast to a city-state, a modern state rules over several cities and rural populations; that is, modern states rule over large territories. In contrast to an empire, a modern state rules over a national population that has a political allegiance to the state but not over colonial subjects; that is, modern states rule over populations that share a common status as nationals of a country. See Figure 1.1 for a visual representation of these distinctions"--

Gerardo L. Munck grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and is Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Southern California. His books include Critical Junctures and Historical Legacies (with David Collier; 2022); A Middle-Quality Institutional Trap: Democracy and State Capacity in Latin America (with Sebastián Mazzuca; 2020); and Measuring Democracy: A Bridge Between Scholarship and Politics (2009). He worked on Democracy in Latin America (2004), a United Nations Development Programme report. His awards include the Frank Cass Prize for Best Overall Article in Democratization in 2016, and the Award for Conceptual Innovation in Democratic Studies in 2003.

Preface; Introduction: Latin American politics and society; Part I. A Historical Overview: 1. The state and state capacity; 2. Nation building, race, and ethnicity; 3. Political regimes and democracy; 4. Development models and socioeconomic welfare; Part II. Problems of Democracy in a Democratic Age: 5. Democracy and the quality of democracy: the never-ending quest; 6. Political inclusion and institutional innovations: women, indigenous peoples, Afro-descendants, and ordinary people; 7. Political parties and the citizen-politician link: the persistent crisis of representation; Part III. Civil Rights as a Problem for Democracy: 8. The protection of civil rights: a pending task for democracies; 9. Transitional justice: responses to past human rights violations; 10. High-level corruption: public officials against the public interest; 11. The new violence: homicides, drugs, and the state; Part IV. Social Rights as a Problem for Democracy: 12. Social rights in law and reality: the dilemmas of democracy in unequal societies; 13. Sustainable development and neoextractivism: growth, the environment, and social action; 14. Basic social inclusion and social policy: CCTs as a poverty reduction policy; 15. Unequal democracies: the paradox of political equality and social inequality; Conclusion: 16. Latin America in perspective: lessons and prospects; Appendix. A timeline of Latin America; Glossary; References; Index.