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The second edition of Constructing Democratic Governance attempts to answer a variety of questions related to the unexpected shifts in Latin America's political landscape. What exactly is the state of democracy in the region today? How should we understand and make sense of the political dynamics and the new dangers in Latin America and the Caribbean? Why is there so much disenchantment-reflected in so many public opinion polls-among the region's citizens with the actual performance of democratic systems? And what can be done, what measures can be taken, to restore greater public confidence in democratic practices and institutions?

The thirteen chapters represent a wide variety of issues and provide high-quality, critical analysis about the status of democracy in the region. Most of them focus on democratic development in particular Latin American and Caribbean countries, while others examine crosscutting, thematic issues-such as the role of women in politics and civil-military relations. The analyses give special emphasis to underlying trends-both positive and negative-and to an understanding of where things are headed politically in the region. The Dialogue is delighted to have convened a group of talented and well-known academics from Latin America and the United States to share different perspectives on such diverse and wide-ranging themes.

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Release Event

On June 10, 2003, the Dialogue hosted a symposium on the challenges of democratic governance in Latin America, and released the second edition of Constructing Democratic Governance in Latin America. The book’s co-editors, Jorge Domínguez of Harvard University and Michael Shifter,as well as Moisés Naím, editor of Foreign Policy, Linda Robinson, Latin America bureau chief for U.S. News and World Report, and Paulo Sotero, Washington correspondent for O Estado de São Paulo led the discussion and offered insights on the region’s democratic performance over the past half dozen years and recent political trends in the hemisphere.  

The debate centered on whether Latin America is going in a generally positive direction—albeit with some setbacks—or whether both analysts and practitioners have had unrealistic expectations for democratic progress in the region, which accounts for the widespread sense of public disappointment. Some participants stressed that contemporary Latin America is largely democratic and happily free of many of the worst violations of human rights that prevailed several decades ago. Others, however, advanced a gloomier assessment, contrasting today’s generally mediocre political performance with the relatively high standards that elected leaders set and accepted just a decade ago. The discussion featured varied perspectives on the role of political leadership, political parties, and experiments in decentralization throughout the region. Some participants suggested that any future volumes on democratic governance in Latin America include greater attention to the role of international factors and regional institutions.

Conference

On September 29, 2000, the Dialogue organized a full-day meeting on the challenge of constructing democratic governance in Latin America.  The meeting provided a high-quality exchange featuring 13 leading analysts from Latin America and the United States and diverse representatives from Washington's policy community.  Several authors contributing chapters to the second edition of Constructing Democratic Governance participated, while Jorge Dominguez and Michael Shifter chaired the event.  Other commentators included Christopher Sabatini of the National Endowment for Democracy, Margaret Sarles of USAID, Minister Ricardo Lagorio of the  Embassy of Argentina to the United States, and Andres Allamand of the Inter-American Development Bank.  The agenda featured a morning session focused on three Andean countries - Colombia, Peru, and Venezuela - along with an afternoon session focusing on Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and Chile. The wide-ranging exchange among the commentators and the analysts involved in this project was intended to help deepen the understanding of region-wide political trends and generate effective and realistic policy options for dealing with problems of democratic governance in Latin America.

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