Democratic Transition

Pertaining to the topic of Democratic Consolidation, Smith and Sells put great emphasis on the importance of elections. In chapter 7, they described the electoral system as the “hallmark of democracy”. I agree with the authors in regard to this statement; without free and fair elections there cannot be a true democracy. But free and fair elections are not the only requisite for a true democracy, in fact we learned in class that Mexico’s PRI held free and fair elections and they held power for 70 years straight. Transition of political power is a trait of true democracy, as all parties and peoples with different political affiliations will be equally represented.

 

Latin America has had a rough transition to democracy and an equally difficult journey towards democratic consolidation. In page 194-195 of the text, the authors discuss that only three democracies had survived in Latin America which were: Colombia, Venezuela, and Costa Rica. In fact, the authors believe that Venezuela has had one of the longest surviving democracies in the region. I disagree with this because violation of basic human rights disqualify a regime from being labeled “democratic or semi-democratic” and classifies it a “authoritarian”.

 

Considering the events that have taken place in the last year in Venezuela, this regime headed by Nicolas Maduro cannot be labeled as democratic. In the last year, peaceful protestors have been met with deadly force from Venezuelan and Cuban military forces; as well as state sponsored non-state actors that are utilized to suppress the population. Non-state actors take the name of “los colectivos”, and they employ extortion, violence, and murder to maintain the population divided and oppressed. Even prior to Maduro, Chavez had taken authoritarianism and populism since he was democratically appointed president in 1999. He sought to divide the population, showing favoritism towards the low class majority and taking land, work, and companies from the middle and high class citizens.

 

Finally, the authors do a good job in depicting the violence that was part of democratic consolidation in just about every democracy/semi-democracy in the region. They describe the variables of political strife in such detail that a reader can recognize the distinction and magnitude that varied in different Latin American states. Also, Smith and Sells take into account foreign intervention as an area of high influence during the process of democratic consolidation; which I particularly view as a highly influential factor as well.