Political parties and unfinished transitions in Latin America

Abstract

The mobilizations that shook Latin America in the last months of 2019 have revived the never-ending debate on democracy. 2019 ended with the worst democratic indicators since 2006, in a world scenario of general deterioration of democracy. Indeed, although the region has been classified as the most democratic among the emerging countries, it has a (democratic) trend that has been constantly declining for some years, so much so that the director of the Latinobarómetro Marta Lagos has classified 2018 as "l'annus horribilis". ” which could even mark the end of the democratic third wave. From the transitions, chronic pathologies have been evidenced in the functioning of Latin American democracies that are always at risk of regressing, which leads us to question ourselves about the consolidation of the democratic path throughout the new millennium and to question the results same transitions that today still appear unfinished.