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Written by former President of Ecuador Osvaldo Hurtado,
Dictatorships in Twenty-First-Century Latin America explores the
most important Latin American political phenomenon to emerge in the
first two decades of the twenty-first century: democratic
governments elected by citizens have become autocratic governments
through the manipulation of the constitutional order and the
legislative and judicial functions. Unlike traditional Latin
American dictatorships, those of the twenty-first century have not
been established by the military but by civilian politicians who
were voted into power by the people to govern their countries
subject to the provisions of the constitution and the law. Once the
leaders assumed the presidency, however, they ignored the
constitution under which they were elected and replaced it with one
tailored to their political ambitions, using the broad powers
assigned to them to remain in power indefinitely. This is what
Presidents Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, Evo Morales
in Bolivia, Rafael Correa in Ecuador, Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua,
and Nayib Bukele in El Salvador have all done. Hurtado explains the
paradox of this new Latin American authoritarian trend occurring
when, for the first time in the history of the subcontinent,
democratic institutions governed in all countries, with the sole
exception of Cuba.
Written by former President of Ecuador Osvaldo Hurtado,
Dictatorships in Twenty-First-Century Latin America explores the
most important Latin American political phenomenon to emerge in the
first two decades of the twenty-first century: democratic
governments elected by citizens have become autocratic governments
through the manipulation of the constitutional order and the
legislative and judicial functions. Unlike traditional Latin
American dictatorships, those of the twenty-first century have not
been established by the military but by civilian politicians who
were voted into power by the people to govern their countries
subject to the provisions of the constitution and the law. Once the
leaders assumed the presidency, however, they ignored the
constitution under which they were elected and replaced it with one
tailored to their political ambitions, using the broad powers
assigned to them to remain in power indefinitely. This is what
Presidents Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, Evo Morales
in Bolivia, Rafael Correa in Ecuador, Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua,
and Nayib Bukele in El Salvador have all done. Hurtado explains the
paradox of this new Latin American authoritarian trend occurring
when, for the first time in the history of the subcontinent,
democratic institutions governed in all countries, with the sole
exception of Cuba.
A case study of why Third World countries are still poor, the
premise of this book is that while some progress has been made in
transforming the political economy of Ecuador, certain behaviors,
beliefs and attitudes have kept the country from developing in ways
that otherwise would have been possible. As the author asserts, for
almost five centuries the cultural habits of Ecuadorian citizens
have constituted a stumbling block for individual economic success.
Still, he concludes, people's cultural values are not immutable:
inconvenient customs can be changed or influenced by the economic
success of immigrants. This is the challenge that Ecuador faces in
the twenty-first century.
This book is a study of politics and the changing configuration of
power in a developing country in which political domination during
the past 155 years has almost without exception coincided with
economic hegemony.
Latin America has been perceived as a region prone to
dictatorships. Arguably, though, this is a rather dated perception,
as the vast majority of Latin American countries nowadays enjoy
political systems that embrace democratic institutions. There is,
however, a small group of countries, the so-called "21st-century
socialist" countries, where democratic institutions continue to
have nominal existence while the rights and freedoms of their
citizens are restricted. In his new book, Osvaldo Hurtado shines a
bright light on the differences between 21st-century dictatorships
and the familiar military despotisms of the past. Hurtado correctly
points out that under these new dictatorships attacks against
democracy and its institutions are perpetrated by democratically
elected presidents who shield themselves behind their popular
origins to justify their disregard for the rule of law.
21st-century dictatorships manipulate democratic institutions so as
to bring about autocratic governments that do not fit the
principles set forth in the Inter-American Democratic Charter
unanimously signed by all countries of the Americas. The author
succeeds admirably in analyzing these new-fangled dictatorships
currently in power in Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Venezuela. He
does so by drawing on his dual and considerable experience as a
former president and an academic. Given the authoritarian challenge
facing Latin American democracies, the Inter-American Institute for
Democracy has deemed it absolutely necessary to make 21st -Century
Dictatorships: The Ecuadorian Case available to the
English-speaking world.
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