Democracy and Race in Brazil, Britain and the United States Reaching for Higher Ground

This study examines the relationship between democracy and the politics of race from a cross-national comparative perspective, examining specifically how Black people fare in the political systems of Britain, Brazil, and the United States. The book addresses questions about the role of race in the development of democratic ideology, theory and systems of governance, and the levels of difference and commonality in the political experiences of people of African descent in the diaspora. Traditional tools of comparative political science are used to examine the role of race and race-related issues in each nation, and each nation-state chapter traces the historical relationship between the development of democracy and the politics of race. The study identifies the processes and factors that are the result of the specific national or political differences and those that may be the result of systemic factors that commonly occur in democratic contexts. This study makes an important contribution to the field of political science, and the sub-fields of comparative politics, race/ethnic politics, and will be of interest to the related fields of sociology and history.