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Changing Religious Structures And Civil Society In Latin America: The Case Of Nicaragua, John G. Poffenbarger

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Two phenomena have been ongoing in Central America over the past 30 years. The first has been a change in the dominant religious structures in the region with the growth of Evangelical Protestantism and Pentecostalism, as well as ongoing changes within the Roman Catholic Church, such as the rise and fall of Progressive Catholicism. The other major phenomenon has been the establishment of democratic regimes across the isthmus. Putnam, Inglehart, Almond & Verba, among others, assert that for a democracy to flourish a vibrant civil society must be present. These scholars, along with Huntington, Weber, and Wald et al. believe …