The ‘Capture’ of Media Systems, Policies, and Industries in Latin America: Concluding Remarks

Abstract

More than two decades have passed since the start of the last wave of democratization in Latin American and though in broad terms the electoral component is now a regular and stable feature of public life, most countries are still characterized by strong disparities, income inequality, and a contested rule of law. During the 1980s and 1990s, the power clusters and groups — especially but not exclusively in the economy — that survived the transitions found better conditions for accumulation with the newly arrived political actors, who did not alter the property structures and the income distribution. Moreover, criticisms to state intervention and expansion coincided in time with democratization discourses just as privatization and liberalization policies coincided with the globalization trends.