The data for the period 2008-2021 shows that these indicators have decreased over time. For this reason, the number of “flawed” democracies has increased (53), as has the number of hybrid regimes (34).
This study shows that, in the case of Latin America, democracy has suffered important setbacks. Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua are classified as authoritarian regimes, while Mexico, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Guatemala and El Salvador lost their status as “defective” democracies, to be classified as hybrid regimes.
Recently, the president of the National Electoral Institute (INE) in Mexico said through a video circulating on social networks: “Democracies are being criticized for their lack of capacity to govern in conditions of plurality and improve the development conditions of contemporary societies. The lack of attention to the problems generates nonconformity and the societies perceive that the structural problems have worsened”.
He then added that: “Citizens lose interest in the elections because they perceive that their problems and needs, far from being resolved, in some cases are deepening.”
The purpose of the video is to “call to participate in an international forum in defense of democratic systems and electoral bodies, with the aim of confronting the advance of authoritarian regimes.” The data on which Lorenzo Córdova’s concern is based are those of the World Values Survey (EMV), which documents that “only 6% of Mexicans are satisfied with the performance of the political system.” Today fewer people support democracy and more and more people are looking for a concentrated and strong power.
Moisés Naím in his recent book, “The Revenge of the Powerful”, adds that this power today is sustained by “3 P’s: populism, post-truth and polarization”. These variables explain the way in which politicians exercise power and hold traditional democratic institutions in check.
Even when this correlation is clear, the error of many analysts lies in the fact that they pay more attention to the way in which the powerful govern, than to the structural conditions that determine that these characters can act as they do.
