On Sunday, Hondurans voted for their next president and vice-president, members of Congress, and municipal mayors. But the country’s vote-tally system failed. Now, after nearly a week, the winner of the presidential race remains unknown.
The candidate of President Xiomara Castro’s Libre Party, however, is out, having failed to secure even a fifth of the vote in a three-way race. Perhaps this is unsurprising. Her tenure has been marred by charges of nepotism, ties to organized crime, and increasingly heavy-handed rule. Yet the remaining candidates from the country’s two traditional parties bring their own baggage — corruption, embezzlement, money laundering. No matter who wins, writes Rachel A. Schwartz, in a new JoD online exclusive, Honduran democracy is in trouble.
The following Journal of Democracy essays cover recent political events in Latin America and document the headwinds facing democracy across the region. Free for a limited time.
Why Honduras Is Facing Election Chaos
Days after the election and still no one knows who the next president will be. Even worse, none of the likely winners offer much hope for the country’s democracy.
Rachel A. SchwartzThe Long Game: The Opposition Wins in Honduras
The country’s opposition beat an authoritarian incumbent by unifying, organizing its supporters, and contesting every election no matter the odds. Can the strategy be applied elsewhere?
Will Freeman and Lucas PerellóIs Costa Rica’s Democracy Failing?
Although an island of stability and democracy in a region often short of both, Costa Ricans’ faith in government is declining as the challenge of financing its costly welfare state grows. This democratic stalwart is no longer immune to the appeal of populism.
Forrest D. Colburn and Andrea M. PradoHow Organized Crime Threatens Latin America
Drug cartels possess the power of militaries, the profits of corporations, and the coercive capacity of a state. They will not be eliminated any time soon. But the region’s democracies can seek to raise their costs, limit their influence, and curb the violence.
Javier Corrales and Will FreemanWhy Bolivia’s MAS Collapsed
Evo Morales’s Movement Toward Socialism transformed Bolivian politics. But after almost two decades in power, the party is unraveling. No longer the country’s anchor, the MAS has become a major driver of instability and political decay.
Santiago AnriaCuba’s Mafia State
When the Soviet Union fell, Cuba did not democratize but instead was turned into a raw kleptocracy by Communist Party insiders. Decades later, this “mafia” has driven the country into the worst crisis in its history.
Juan Antonio BlancoIs Mexico at the Gates of Authoritarianism?
The country’s outgoing president relentlessly attacked Mexico’s democratic institutions, taking it to the brink of authoritarianism. His successor is poised to push its democracy over the edge.
Azul A. Aguiar Aguilar, Rodrigo Castro Cornejo, and Alejandro Monsiváis-CarrilloThe Third Wave’s Lessons for Democracy
When the “third wave” reached Latin America in the 1970s and 1980s, it brought major advances for democracy. By the first decade of the current century, however, advances had given way to stasis and even erosion.
Scott MainwaringThe Rise of Legislative Authoritarianism
Democratic backsliding is usually seen as something driven by presidents, but under certain circumstances elected legislatures can cause it, too. Legislative hegemony is a growing danger.
Paolo Sosa-Villagarcia, José Incio, and Moisés ArceThe Threat to Latin American Term Limits
Latin America remains haunted by the specter of “strongman” rule. Term limits have been a way of guarding against this threat, but aspiring autocrats have now found a new avenue to bypass this barrier to power: courts of law.
Benjamin N. Gedan and Elias French
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