Advocacy Coalitions and Democratizing Media Reforms in Latin America

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xix

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Christof Mauersberger

   Pages 1-13

3. Democracy, Media, and Their Democratization in Latin America

   • Christof Mauersberger

   Pages 15-54

4. Analyzing Policy Change: Theoretical and Methodological Considerations

   • Christof Mauersberger

   Pages 55-82

5. Argentina: Radical Change Amid Sharp Political Conflict

   • Christof Mauersberger

   Pages 83-147

6. Brazil: Much Debate About No Reform

   • Christof Mauersberger

   Pages 149-223

7. Broadening the Scope: Advocacy Coalitions and Media Reforms in Chile and Uruguay

   • Christof Mauersberger

   Pages 225-236

8. Comparison and Generalization: Conditions for Media Democratization

   • Christof Mauersberger

   Pages 237-260

9. Conclusions and Outlook

   • Christof Mauersberger

   Pages 261-275

This book examines democratizing media reforms in Latin America. The author explains why some countries have recently passed such reforms in the broadcasting sector, while others have not. By offering a civil society perspective, the author moves beyond conventional accounts that perceive media reforms primarily as a form of government repression to punish oppositional media. Instead, he highlights the pioneering role of civil society coalitions, which have managed to revitalize the debate on communication rights and translated them into specific regulatory outcomes such as the promotion of community radio stations. The book provides an in-depth, comparative analysis of media reform debates in Argentina and Brazil (analyzing Chile and Uruguay as complementary cases), supported by original qualitative research. As such, it advances our understanding of how shifting power relations and social forces are affecting policymaking in Latin America and beyond.

• Communication Rights
• Democratization
• Latin America
• Media Reforms
• Social Movements
• media research

• Otto-Suhr-Institute for Political Science (International Political Economy), Free University Berlin, Berlin, Germany

  Christof Mauersberger

Christof Mauersberger is a research fellow at the Center for International Political Economy of the Otto-Suhr-Institut for Political Science at the Free University in Berlin, Germany, where he completed his doctoral research. He studied political science and economics at the Free University Berlin and the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina. His research interests focus on current Latin American affairs, social movements, media policy, and development theory.

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