Political Parties, Corruption, Citizenship and Democracy: Latin America’s Old Challenges Revisited

Democracies around the world are constantly facing new challenges that seek to contest their status quo. The overall quality of democracy in the world has significantly diminished, affecting some regions more than others. For example, the Latin American region has constantly been faced with challenges, such as high poverty levels, low levels of citizens’ access to education, citizens’ lower trust in political parties, and high levels of corruption, among others, that do not allow for an increase in the region’s levels of democracy. However, what seems to characterise Latin America’s challenges, compared to other regions, is the length of time these challenges have been there. Most of the most pressing matters that challenge Latin American democracies have been around for several decades. New solutions to new problems are always proposed by the world’s leaders, nonetheless, are these new solutions capable of tackling old problems? In this close panel, we seek to understand some of the most influential and long-lasting challenges that Latin American democracies have faced since they transitioned back to democracy. Questions of the lack of trust in political parties, high levels of political corruption, how citizens translate their preferences to other democratic frontiers, as well as the effects of economic performance.