I find the aspect of Latin America’s major challenge in ensuring democracy so intriguing, and the democratic evolution in Latin America so fascinating. Latin America was on its way to implementing democracy and now it is struggling to make sure democratic rule stays, when it should be finding ways to further strengthen the system. It is important to find the major threats democracy faces in Latin America to prevent it from destroying years of institutional framework democracy has created. One major threat I have found is populist leaders. Kurt Weyland, a well known researcher with a PhD in the field of on democratization and authoritarian rule said populist leaders use growing economic interventionism to boost their power, invoke nationalism
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The most widespread wave of democratization that Latin America experienced in its history occurred at the end of the Cold War. During the Cold War, Latin Americans first feared the U.S. intervention because they did not want the U.S. to interfere in internal affairs, but quickly changed its mind once they discovered Fidel Castro’s involvement with the Soviet Union. At the same time, this was a hard time for Latin America because most countries were suffering from high rates of hunger, social system abuse, and fighting communism. As a result, Latin American nations embraced democracy in return for U.S. aid. About two decades later, concerns about corruption, low levels of participation, and institutional designs weakened the democratic system Latin America started to build. By the 1980’s, Latin America was in massive foreign debt and had serious macroeconomic problems from very high inflation and fiscal deficit arising from the economic policies implemented by various governments of the region at the time. As a result in the 1990’s, the region experienced the introduction of numerous economic reforms commonly known as neoliberal, which created populism. By the mid-1990's new patterns of populist leadership formed that coincided with neoliberal economic reforms in nations like Peru, Argentina, Brazil, and
The most widespread wave of democratization that Latin America experienced in its history occurred at the end of the Cold War. During the Cold War, Latin Americans first feared the U.S. intervention because they did not want the U.S. to interfere in internal affairs, but quickly changed its mind once they discovered Fidel Castro’s involvement with the Soviet Union. At the same time, this was a hard time for Latin America because most countries were suffering from high rates of hunger, social system abuse, and fighting communism. As a result, Latin American nations embraced democracy in return for U.S. aid. About two decades later, concerns about corruption, low levels of participation, and institutional designs weakened the democratic system Latin America started to build. By the 1980’s, Latin America was in massive foreign debt and had serious macroeconomic problems from very high inflation and fiscal deficit arising from the economic policies implemented by various governments of the region at the time. As a result in the 1990’s, the region experienced the introduction of numerous economic reforms commonly known as neoliberal, which created populism. By the mid-1990's new patterns of populist leadership formed that coincided with neoliberal economic reforms in nations like Peru, Argentina, Brazil, and