Re-imagining Democracy in Latin America and the Caribbean, 1780-1870 examines the ways in which the ancient concept of “democracy” was re-imagined as relevant to the modern world in Latin America and the Caribbean between the later eighteenth and later nineteenth centuries. In most regions this process largely followed the French Revolution, while in Latin America it more closely followed independence movements of the 1810s and 20s.

A sequel to two previous volumes edited by Joanna Innes and Mark Philp, Re-imagining Democracy in the Age of Revolutions: America, France, Britain, Ireland 1750-1850 and Re-imagining Democracy in the Mediterranean 1770-1860, this volume studies how a variety of political actors and commentators used “democracy” to characterize or debate modern conditions through the ensuing half-century. By 1870, it was firmly established in mainstream political lexicons throughout the region.

Here, specialists in the field contribute wide-ranging accounts of aspects of the context in which the word was re-imagined, highlighting state formation, race, constitutionalism, urban political culture, education, and outside views of the region — the six concluding chapters explore differences in its fortune from location to location. Ultimately, this edited volume deftly explores the history of the language of democracy and encourages new debates about its meaning.