Introduction
Democracy and its real meaning has generated a number of debates especially in the field of political science. According to minimalist definition, democracy is considered to be a system whereby the rulers are chosen through a competitive election, and in a broader perspective it includes a number of dimensions like freedom, participation as well as the accountability in terms of leaders. These broader perspectives of democracy have, in a number of cases considered to be liberal democracy. Liberal democracy is characterized by a political system which has a sole responsibility of protecting individual as well as a number of liberties while providing a guarantee to both the horizontal as well as the vertical accountability of the rule of law together with the military subordination to the elected civilian officers.
According to a report by the Alcantara & Corral, democracy has been portrayed to have an implication on the way in which human being think, especially towards the development of citizenship. It has also been considered as a form of power organization which has an implication towards the existence of state together with its proper functioning. The report further indicated that in order to have an effective democracy, full civic participation is necessary, which is the complete recognition of the political civic as well as the issue of social citizenship.
Democracy in Latin America has had a number of historical developments, which ought to be understood as well as judged in respect to some given characteristics. This comes with a clear understanding that the electoral system plays a vital part in a democratic regime as well as having a clear understanding in that the democracy concept cannot be reduced to just holding elections but basically to a wide variety of factors.
Democracy in Latin America
Latin America is ranked as one of the unstable region in the world especially in respect to political instability. Instability has been negatively linked to capital accumulation. Therefore the existence of political instability in the Latin America has hampered in a great way its economic development. This has seen this region confront a high level of poverty considered to be the highest in the world. The matter of poverty as well as trying to achieve the equality has been generating a lot of tensions. A number of tensions have been evident especially between the issue of deepening democracy together with trying to achieve the equality as well as reduce the poverty.
One of the major challenges in respect to democracy in Latin America is its political system. According to centralization of power together with the authority has been manifested for a long time in the Latin American traditions of governance. This has led to having all the important decision making process be made at a national level. As a result there has been a significant impendent to both democratic consolidation as well as the economic progress. There have been also efforts towards achieving democratic transitions. These efforts have been refuted by the civilian politicians who bar the efforts of exercising democracy especially in the political system.
The growth of a proper future political system is facing a number of challenges. The growth of new parties together with having the necessity to build a coalition is a great sign of a healthy democratic development. This is usually not the case in Latin America. In Latin America most of the political parties usually split due to personal ambitions as well as development of rivalries between the politicians. A strong democracy is always possible with a strong will from the political system. Latin America Political system needs to have a strong base in order to embrace democracy in its system.
The matters of dependency, populism and dictatorship have been a great threat towards democracy. As a matter of a political strategy, most of the president in Latin America exercised a lot authority aimed to keep them in power for long time. One such strategy was populism where they had a number of variegated as well as shifting their ideological orientations in order to be able to pursue some of the diverse economic as well as a number of social policies. Populism has always been known to stand in tension especially with the matters of democracy. One impediment of the populist presidents especially in respect to democracy is that they always undermine most of the institutional protection especially against the occurrences of power abuse as well as seeking political hegemony. The populist do not believe in a fair competition but see their opponents as threats rather than as adversaries to a fair competition. Populist are therefore a great threat to democracy. One of the big challenges in Latin America today is that some of the presidents still hold the populists’ ideologies hence a threat to democracy.
United States has been in the frontline in promoting democracy in Latin America. The congress has formulated a number of laws geared towards enforcing democracy in the Latin American Countries. One great obstacle which has been facing the efforts of the United States is the culture which is exhibited by the Latin Americans. Latin American tends to glorify their past so much that it becomes very difficult to advocate for any change within their systems. Latin Americans tend to hold tight to their cultures even if they are suffering. As a result they tend to practice a number of things which eventually undermines democracy in their region.
Military has been used in a number of occasions aimed at bring democracy within a region or a country. In most cases the use of military especially against the civilian population has led to a number of human rights violations resulting into an increase in public hostility especially towards the actions of armed forces. The use of military has in a great way undermined the police as well as the military institutions and consequently threatening the democratic process. As a result of use of military, Venezuela had an encounter of a military coup attempt in February of 1992.
In recent years, the civil-military relation pattern has remained as a great obstacle towards the achievement of democratic process. There has been a decline in regard to threat of military coup with a reduction of the ability by the armed forces to be in a position of dominating the political process. Military support towards building of democracy is very vital especially in the in the instances of democratic transition. Traditionally the military was endowed with a sole responsibility of protecting the boarders of a country. This traditional is simply diminishing and instead the military is being considered as a pillar in democracy building as well as promoting economic development by maintaining political stability.
Conclusion
Is democracy really possible in Latin America? That is the question which needs to be answered and has been explored by highlighting a number of issues. A number of the issues which have been discussed pose a great challenge to democracy in Latin America rooted back in 1950s and 1960s. According to John J. in his book ‘Political change in Latin America: The emergence of the Middle Sectors and Tad Szulc’s Twilight of the Tyrants’, he said that the Latin America was entering to a period of fundamental transition especially towards having a concrete democratic system.
These hopes were however buried down less than a decade later where the Latin America region experienced a number of military dictatorship, absence of democratic government as well as an increase in the levels of human right violations. These factors portrayed a desperate situation towards attainment of a stable democracy in Latin America. Regardless of what transpired during that time, there are a number of reasons to believe that things are different today from what was happening 30 years ago. These give hopes in attainment of democracy in Latin America.
One major threat to democracy in Latin America is the loss of faith especially by its own population. This despair is specifically fueled by a number of economic as well as social problems which comes as a result of the rampant corruption which has undermined the efforts of democratic consolidation. Having no opportunity, as well as experiencing mass poverty together with the deteriorating infrastructural level, pose a threat towards social order in a number of urban centers in Latin American countries.
The positive indication towards achieving democracy in Latin America has been portrayed by the efforts of the world’s countries especially the United States of America, through coming forward to instill democracy in the country by encouraging collaboration as well as promoting peaceful consistence. Consequently the Latin American Nations have also shown some positive signs of becoming united especially towards defending the democratic institutions. This has portrayed positive energy towards possibility of achieving democracy in Latin America.
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