"Opinion surveys conducted during the final year of the Proceso, Alfonsín's first year as president, and the later years of that administration allowed the author to chart changes in public attitude about democracy. Initial enthusiasm faded as socioeconomic problems mounted. The original pro-democratic consensus was as much a belief in democracy as a magical panacea as a reaction to the Proceso's horrors. By 1989 support for democracy mainly rested on a lack of consensus about an alternative"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 57.