18
Declining State of Democratic Institutions and the Implications for Governance
The issues that have led to the recent decline of democratic institutions
in Latin America have historic antecedents. These have not only hurt
institutionalization but have impeded the advance of professional,
well organized, responsive, dynamic democratic governments and
eroded the legal framework which would facilitate economic growth
in all sectors of society, and thereby decrease income inequality. They
emerge in large part from idiosyncrasies in Latin American culture and
administrative organization; and some date back even to the colonial
period. While tomes could be – and have been – written on the
subject, for the purpose of this practical discussion this article will focus
on two clear challenges: Excessive personalization of leadership and
corruption. Overcoming these challenges will, in large part, remedy
some of the underpinning causes of in-governability and go a long way
in laying the foundation for a just and modern society based upon rule
of law and that is responsive to the needs and demands of its citizenry.
Before discussing these challenges in more detail, there is an important
caveat to highlight. The threat to democratic institutions in Latin
America is often a matter of practice, not design. On paper, Latin
America maintains some of the most advanced constitutions, some
of the most sophisticated mechanisms for citizen participation, and
generally speaking a tax code which would allow sufficient resourcing
its astonishing collection of lost generations. It runs
the risk of wasting, yet again, its opportunity upon
the earth. It falls to us, and those who come after, to
keep this from happening. It falls to us to honor the
debt to democracy, to development and to the peace
of our peoples, a debt that came due many centuries
ago. Honoring the debt to democracy means much
more than promulgating political constitutions, signing
democratic charters or celebrating periodic elections. It
means building trustworthy institutions, well beyond
the anemic structures that today sustain our apparatus
of state. It means guaranteeing the supremacy of the
rule of law, that some insist in pole vaulting.”
