Democracy as the only game in town in Latin América : One step forward... and two steps back?

During the last quarter of the 20th Century, Latin America experienced transitions to democracy putting an end to a long cycle of military dictatorships. Likewise, as the UNDP 2021 Report underscores, the region’s 1980-2020 rate of economic growth is only half of what was before 1980. Latin America...

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Autor principal: Cavarozzi, Marcelo
Formato: Artículo revista
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Universidad Nacional de Rosario 2021
Materias:
América Latina
Democracia
Desigualdades
Economía
Latin America
Democracy
Inequalities
Economy
Acceso en línea:https://relasp.unr.edu.ar/index.php/revista/article/view/6
Aporte de:
RELASP de Universidad Nacional de Rosario
id I15-R205-article-6
record_format ojs
spelling I15-R205-article-62022-04-05T15:31:08Z Democracy as the only game in town in Latin América : One step forward... and two steps back? Democracy as the only game in townen América Latina: ¿Un paso para adelante... y dos para atrás? Cavarozzi, Marcelo América Latina Democracia Desigualdades Economía Latin America Democracy Inequalities Economy During the last quarter of the 20th Century, Latin America experienced transitions to democracy putting an end to a long cycle of military dictatorships. Likewise, as the UNDP 2021 Report underscores, the region’s 1980-2020 rate of economic growth is only half of what was before 1980. Latin America is still the world’s most unequal region in terms of per capita income. This article explores the failure of political democracy to escape the economic doldrums of the recent four decades. It analyzes the democratic and hyperpresidentialist panaceas that prevail since 1980 and their decline. Democracy failed to implement effective responses to the transformations Latin American societies were experiencing beginning in the 1970’s in the context of the metamorphosis of capitalism, i.e. (1) the gradual breakdown of state regulation, (2) the novel challenges encountered by democracies, and (3) the weakening of social cohesion. Democratic transitions brought about the end of military dictatorships indeed. However, and turning over the known adage -i.e. that democracy became the only game in town- it is apparent that problems grew worse with the transitions. This was the result precisely because in becoming the only game, democratic political processes discarded the informal, although less than virtuous, tools of the regímenes de compromiso that had prevailed during the state-centric period of the mid-20th Century. Durante el último cuarto del siglo XX las transiciones a la democracia en América Latina clausuraron el ciclo de dictaduras militares. El PNUD, en su informe para 2021, señala que la tasa de crecimiento económico se redujo a la mitad de lo que era en las décadas previas a 1980. Asimismo, América Latina continúa siendo la región de mayor desigualdad de ingresos en el mundo y la pobreza ha vuelto a crecer recientemente. Este artículo analiza el fracaso de la política en democracia en evitar el curso económico de las recientes cuatro décadas; el foco se pone en las panaceas democrática e hiperpresidencialista, que predominaron entre 1980 y 2014-2015 y el vacío político producido posteriormente. La política democrática no ha contribuido a implementar respuestas eficaces a las transformaciones producidas en el contexto de la metamorfosis del capitalismo mundial a partir de la década de 1970 ni de los procesos resultantes, es decir la (1) la desintegración de la regulación estatal, (2) los novedosos desafíos que se le plantearon a las democracias, y (3) el debilitamiento de la cohesión social. Durante las transiciones se produjo el definitivo ocaso de las diferentes variantes de dictaduras del siglo XX. Sin embargo, y para dar vuelta al revés al conocido adagio, los problemas se agravaron a partir de que democracy became the only game in town. Esto ocurrió porque precisamente el desembocar en un único juego se desecharon las herramientas de los regímenes de compromiso que habían prevalecido durante el medio siglo de despliegue de la MEC -Matriz Estado-Céntrica- es decir, 1930-1980. Universidad Nacional de Rosario 2021-06-01 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion application/pdf text/html https://relasp.unr.edu.ar/index.php/revista/article/view/6 10.35305/rr.v2i3.6 Revista Euro latinoamericana de Análisis Social y Político (RELASP); Vol. 2 Núm. 3 (2021); 15-28 2683-7420 eng https://relasp.unr.edu.ar/index.php/revista/article/view/6/3 https://relasp.unr.edu.ar/index.php/revista/article/view/6/108 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
institution Universidad Nacional de Rosario
institution_str I-15
repository_str R-205
container_title_str RELASP
language Inglés
format Artículo revista
topic América Latina
Democracia
Desigualdades
Economía
Latin America
Democracy
Inequalities
Economy
spellingShingle América Latina
Democracia
Desigualdades
Economía
Latin America
Democracy
Inequalities
Economy
Cavarozzi, Marcelo
Democracy as the only game in town in Latin América : One step forward... and two steps back?
topic_facet América Latina
Democracia
Desigualdades
Economía
Latin America
Democracy
Inequalities
Economy
author Cavarozzi, Marcelo
author_facet Cavarozzi, Marcelo
author_sort Cavarozzi, Marcelo
title Democracy as the only game in town in Latin América : One step forward... and two steps back?
title_short Democracy as the only game in town in Latin América : One step forward... and two steps back?
title_full Democracy as the only game in town in Latin América : One step forward... and two steps back?
title_fullStr Democracy as the only game in town in Latin América : One step forward... and two steps back?
title_full_unstemmed Democracy as the only game in town in Latin América : One step forward... and two steps back?
title_sort democracy as the only game in town in latin américa : one step forward... and two steps back?
description During the last quarter of the 20th Century, Latin America experienced transitions to democracy putting an end to a long cycle of military dictatorships. Likewise, as the UNDP 2021 Report underscores, the region’s 1980-2020 rate of economic growth is only half of what was before 1980. Latin America is still the world’s most unequal region in terms of per capita income. This article explores the failure of political democracy to escape the economic doldrums of the recent four decades. It analyzes the democratic and hyperpresidentialist panaceas that prevail since 1980 and their decline. Democracy failed to implement effective responses to the transformations Latin American societies were experiencing beginning in the 1970’s in the context of the metamorphosis of capitalism, i.e. (1) the gradual breakdown of state regulation, (2) the novel challenges encountered by democracies, and (3) the weakening of social cohesion. Democratic transitions brought about the end of military dictatorships indeed. However, and turning over the known adage -i.e. that democracy became the only game in town- it is apparent that problems grew worse with the transitions. This was the result precisely because in becoming the only game, democratic political processes discarded the informal, although less than virtuous, tools of the regímenes de compromiso that had prevailed during the state-centric period of the mid-20th Century.
publisher Universidad Nacional de Rosario
publishDate 2021
url https://relasp.unr.edu.ar/index.php/revista/article/view/6
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first_indexed 2023-05-11T18:46:19Z
last_indexed 2023-05-11T18:46:19Z
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