Chair: Rodrigo Stumpf González
Co-chair: Henrique Carlos de Oliveira de Castro
Discussants: Sofía Isabel Vizcarra, José Daniel Sousa Oliva, João Inácio Pires Lucas, Danú Alberto Fabre Platas, Darío Fabían Hérnández Gonzélez, Manuel Ángel Rodríguez Edeza, Mauel Suárez Gutiérrez.
The purpose of this panel is to discuss the situation of political regimes in Latin America in recent times. After a decade and a half of transitions, from the late 1970s to the early 1990s, most countries in the region began holding free and periodic elections, which allowed them to be classified as democratic regimes. However, many of these regimes are still far from being considered consolidated democracies and are rather approaching the limits of autocracies.
In recent years, a series of threats have emerged in this regard: interruptions of presidential mandates, concentration of power in a single person (the Executive), erosion of institutions and checks and balances, political polarization, restriction of freedom of expression, and authoritarian leaders with extremist ideologies intent on delegitimizing electoral and justice institutions.
Given these challenges, how do the countries in the region respond? What balance can be achieved? Is it possible for democracies to withstand the onslaught of authoritarianism and return to normalcy, or are we witnessing a wave of democratic decline?