Latin America’s Dysfunctional Democracy

Most Latin American nations have democratized over the last ten years in terms of free and fair elections. With falling living standards and stagnating income, however, the region continues to be mired in poverty and democracy remains dysfunctional. Governments have produced skin-deep democracies in which people have a vote, but don’t really have a stake, in which wealth is increasingly concentrated and income disparities are harder to breach. Democracy in Latin America, in fact, seems incapable of dismantling old networks and their traditional power-sharing arrangements. Erecting barriers to impede social mobility and competition, politicians have emphasized the extraction of resources, with most benefits for the elite and handouts for other citizens. Such leaders have few incentives to respond to the needs of their people, and political science professor Denise Dresser suggests that Latin America is likely to remain uncompetitive in a globalizing world. – YaleGlobal