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LATIN AMERICA is probably the most democratic area of the growing world. However it has lengthy been heading within the unsuitable course. Its rating on the Democracy Index, a yearly rating by EIU, our sister firm, has declined for seven consecutive years. It has recorded the largest democratic recession of any area over the previous 20 years (EIU consists of Central America and the Caribbean on this area). Some nations are exceptions however, as our map beneath reveals, Latin America’s greatest ones are ruled by authoritarian or “hybrid” regimes and “flawed democracies” (people who have ineffective governance and low political participation).
EIU assesses nations in 5 classes of democratic well being and makes use of cumulative scores to class governments on a ten-point scale starting from full democracy to autocracy. Latin America maintains a better rating than all areas aside from North America and Western Europe. However no different area’s rating has fallen by as a lot since 2008 (see chart). In 2022 it fell by 0.04 factors; solely that of the Center East fell by extra (0.07 factors).
Final yr’s least-democratic Latin American nations had been Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela—whose governments had been all classed as authoritarian regimes. However the greatest cause for the area’s democratic decline is the rising variety of “hybrid regimes”. In 2008 it had three such regimes; by 2022 it had eight. These could preserve some necessary democratic practices, resembling holding honest elections and respecting civil liberties. However they’re usually suffering from political polarisation and a lack of religion within the skill of democracies to take care of order, and have a penchant for selecting leaders who flout democratic norms. Two examples are Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Mexico’s president, and Pedro Castillo, Peru’s lately ousted chief.
Nonetheless, some democratic nations are proving resilient. Final yr Costa Rica—identified for its beneficiant public companies—and Uruguay—which boasts Latin America’s largest center class—each improved their rating. Chile additionally had yr: it was restored to the standing of a “full democracy” after it rolled again some pandemic-related restrictions on civil liberties. The three nations’ mixed inhabitants is round 28m.
However many extra individuals reside in nations the place democracy is weakening. Brazil, nonetheless a flawed democracy regardless of a switch of energy in a good election final yr, is Latin America’s greatest nation, with a inhabitants of 214m. Mexico is the second-most populous. Practically half of the area’s inhabitants reside beneath hybrid or authoritarian regimes. In 2022 greater than 60% noticed their nations’ scores drop. These adjustments are a part of an extended, and dispiriting, decline in democratic practices.■
