40 years after the Third Wave of Democratization: Democratic Trajectories in Latin America

Abstract

Democracy in Latin America is stable and resilient, and simultaneously dysfunctional and frustrating. On which side of the glass should we repair? Is this contradiction idiosyncratic, or does Latin America offer a sample of the state of democracy globally? These are some of the questions addressed by the articles that make up this Debate Forum. With a particular focus on the cases of Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile, the four political scientists - Malamud, Welp, Palestini, and Whitehead - offer key readings to analyze and evaluate the state of democracy in Latin America, as well as some of the recent political events: the irruption of violence in electoral processes, presidential instability, the constitutional process in Chile, the election of the first anarcho-libertarian president in Argentina. As a whole, this Debate Forum illuminates the main risks to democracy in the region and possible future scenarios.