Maria D'Alva Kinzo is a professor in the department of political science at the Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brazil. She has published widely on political parties, elections, and democratisation. James Dunkerley is director of the Institute for the Study of the Americas and professor of politics at Queen Mary, University of London, UK. His previous books include Rebellion in the Veins: Political Struggle in Bolivia, 1952-1982 (1984); Power in the Isthmus: A Political History of Modern Central America (1987); Political Suicide in Latin America (1992); and Americana: The Americas in the World, Around 1850 (2000).