EURO-LATIN AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ANALYSIS

Legales

2021-08-17T10:50:16+00:00

Editorial

2021-08-16T22:47:08+00:00

Democracy as the only game in town en América Latina

2021-08-16T22:28:45+00:00

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.

América Latina 2020-2021

2021-08-16T22:30:24+00:00

This text analyzes two features of Latin American countries recent politics in times of pandemic: electoral processes and the proceedings of the courts with respect, mainly, to the actions of the Executives. Both aspects are particularly relevant as regards representative democracy and the rule of law. This is taking place within the framework of fatigued democracies established in the second half of the 2010s and during a severe economic crisis accentuated by high levels of psychopolitical tension. The result is a complex scenario in which the already drawn facets of social unrest, institutional distrust and crisis of representation seem to be accentuated in the context of profound transformations derived from the digital revolution.

Súper Ciclo electoral en América Latina 2021-2024

2021-08-16T22:31:38+00:00

With the exception of Bolivia, all Latin American countries will hold presidential and legislative elections between 2021 and 2024. This article analyze the socioeconomic and political environment in which this electoral super cycle will occur, and the main trends obtained from the first collection of elections that have already taken place, as well as its impact in the regional democratic governance.

Presidencialismo de coalizão em transe e crise democrática no Brasil

2021-08-16T22:33:55+00:00

The Brazilian political party pattern has already changed a lot and continues to change. The 2018 elections were disruptive. They broke the party-electoral axis that organized government and opposition for the last 25 years and for six general elections. The new government started out with high expectations and a lot of controversy. Bolsonaro belatedly formed a minority coalition, more out of pressure than conviction. The pandemic added an unprecedented and very serious aggravation to the picture. The pandemic produced hundreds of thousands of deaths and led to the convening of a parliamentary commission of inquiry to investigate errors and omissions by the Federal Executive. It has been taking a heavy toll on the government in terms of political legitimacy. The president’s political-institutional attitude has caused decision-making deadlocks and a political crisis, given the worst crisis the country has ever faced. There are signs of risk to democracy and institutional. In his third year in office, Bolsonaro has lost popularity and generated more political crises than solutions. The purpose of this article is to analyze these changes and their serious political-institutional consequences.

Las reformas mexicanas y los riesgos de una restauración autoritaria

2021-08-16T22:35:24+00:00

Since coming to power in 2018, Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) launched a broad revision of all reforms introduced by five of his predecessors. This purpose has led him to attempt the restoration of the overpowerful presidency characteristic of the PRI regime. This policie have had a profoundly divisive effect on mexican society. The question remaining is whether AMLO’s next step will be the building of a hegemonic party along the lines of the PRI. This project would almost certainly meet with the determiend oposition of the Mexican electorate that has proven to be aware of the importance of political alternatives. This article explores the possibility of such a development in light of the successive electoral reforms that were at the heart of Mexico’s democratization.

Extreme-right, democracy and oligarchy

2021-08-16T22:36:58+00:00

This article places the Brazilian Bolsonaro government in comparative perspective, particularly in what refers to the surge and strengthening of extreme-right globally. It discusses the emergence of a new sort of political regime (advanced liberal oligarchy) within a more general analysis of modern political regimes (in particular liberal democracy and its crisis, fascism and bureaucratic authoritarianism), the eruption of popular mobilization since 2013 in the country (as part of a global trend), the crisis of the left and how unexpectedly an extreme-right political movement came to power in Brazil. The article then analyses the Bolsonaro government in greater detail, its right-wing posture and its relation to liberal democracy and its largely oligarchic elements, as well as moves by the opposition.

Political economies and decision-making processes in Latin America

2021-08-16T22:38:01+00:00

In this article, political economies have been linked to the decision-making processes of Latin American countries, before and after 1989. Conservative and liberal reforms have usually been applied through neo-oligarchic decision-making processes. Social-democrat economic policies have often been implemented with neo-corporatism. When “soft” populism prevailed, partitocrazia was the typical political instrument of leftist governments, either if they governed or if they were at the opposition. Thus, they usually vetoed rightist presidents’ market reforms. The political consequence of “hard” populism has been authoritarianism, like in Venezuela with Chavez and Maduro. In “hybrid” economic policies, combining different models of political economies, there is not a stable decision-making process, and political conflict is usually strongeru, Chile and Argentina.

Revisiting the Falklands-Malvinas Question: Transnational and Interdisciplinary Perspectives

2021-08-16T22:39:12+00:00

Esta obra, coordinada por Guillermo Mira (profesor de la Universidad de Salamanca, España) y Fernando Pedrosa (profesor de la Universidad de Buenos Aires), enlaza con un campo de preocupaciones en que la memoria se confunde con la historia, lo emocional con lo racional y apunta al corazón de la cultura política argentina.

El pasillo estrecho. Estados, sociedades y cómo alcanzar la libertad

2021-08-16T22:42:16+00:00

El pasillo estrecho de Acemoglu y Robinson (2020) podría articularse a la reciente literatura que reflexiona sobre las regresiones autocráticas y la posibilidad de nuevas olas autoritarias, al estilo de Levitsky y Ziblatt (2018). Constituye, en ese sentido, un esfuerzo por mostrar que el cambio político está abierto a un conjunto de resultados diversos, que no necesariamente desembocan en el liberalismo político que F. Fukuyama proclamó como destino infalible.