A Symposium: Prospects for Democracy in Latin America

Sponsored by the Department of Political Science, University of North Texas

Latin America made unprecedented progress toward democracy from the 1970s to 2000. Peace agreements ended civil wars and established democratic governments. Armed forces relinquished power to civilian politicians. Electoral reforms and political openness allowed electoral competition to flourish. By the turn of the millennium, Cuba alone failed to meet conventional standards for constitutional, electoral democracy.
Despite this great progress, today democracy in Latin America faces many challenges:

• The quality of democracy is problematic in many Latin American nations
• A major regional survey recently reported declining support for democracy
• Recent neo-liberal economic reforms have improved economic performance at the expense of rising poverty and inequality
• Voters frustrated by poor economic performance and corruption have abandoned traditional parties and destabilized party systems by electing populists and leftists
• Venezuela's president Hugo Chávez and his Bolivarian movement have drastically curtailed institutional checks and balances on presidential authority
• Angry indigenous voters in Bolivia brought to power the populist Evo Morales, leader of a coca-growers union
• Coups d' etat and attempted coups have recently become resurgent in politics
• Guerrilla war persists in Colombia as narcotics profits enrich leftist rebels and rightist paramilitaries
• Resource-rich drug cartels threaten the very institutional capacity and integrity of states from Colombia to Mexico
• Predatory criminal gangs in Central America have provoked draconian laws and police violence
• The loser by a narrow margin in Mexico's in 2006 election has mounted a major challenge to the legitimacy of the elections and the newly elected government

This symposium will explore issues related to the status and challenges of democracy in Latin America. Four panels of experts on and from the region will analyze the Latin America's democratic prospect. They will seek answers to such questions as: What is the quality of democracy in Latin America, and is it eroding or deepening? Does public opinion support democracy, and is popular commitment to democratic norms growing or fading? Does poor governmental performance undermine the legitimacy and support for democratic institutions? What are the implications of the rise of populism and indigenous movements and the growing electoral power of the political left? Can governments provide adequate public security under neoliberal fiscal constraints without resorting to antidemocratic practices or strengthening their militaries' political roles? Can democracy survive such threats? Where is democracy most at risk?