1. Democratic Development in Latin America
Institute for Research on Public Policy
September 10-11, 2004
Donald R. Mackay
Executive Director (FOCAL)

2. Record of Progress
18 countries of Latin America fulfill the basic requirements of a democratic regime.
25 years ago, only 3 did.

3. Electoral Democracy Index
The average EDI for Latin America rose rapidly from 0.28 in 1997 to 0.69 in 1985, increasing to 0.86 in 1990 and 0.93 in 2002 (UNDP indicators)
The EDI combines four variables: the right to vote; fair elections; free elections; and elections as a means of gaining access to public office. The value of the EDI ranges between 0 and 1 with zero indicating complete absence of electoral democracy and one the maximum amount of electoral democracy.

5. Democracy Support Index
The Average DSI for Latin America was 2.03 in 2002 (UNDP, Survey)
The DSI indicates that democrats are in a better position than non-democrats – if only barely.
The DSI measures democratic preferences, the size of each preference group and the proportion of democrats and non-democrats and the level of political activism among individuals.
The higher the DSI value the greater the support for democracy. A value of 1 indicates political balance. Lower than one means support for democracy is falling.

8. Latin America’s Reality
Democracy is the dominant political system throughout Latin America.
Democracy co-exists with a difficult socioeconomic situation. Poverty and inequality are crucial problems in the region.
The dimensions of political, civil and social citizenship are not integrated. Progress has been greatest in the first category.

11. In 2002, 57 percent of the citizens in Latin America said that they preferred democracy to any other system. Of these, however, 48.1 percent ranked economic development over democracy and 44.9 percent said that they would be prepared to support an authoritarian regime if it was able to resolve the country’s economic problems.
Some 41.9 percent said that provided “things work” they would tolerate a certain degree of corruption (Latinobarometro 2002).