Failed Democracies in Latin America and the Caribbean

Just Released in Fall of 2023

This book addresses the breakdown of failed democratic systems in Latin America and the Caribbean. The scope of this investigation is a study of political systems of Venezuela, Colombia, and Nicaragua. The implications of the present research on democratic purgatory have real-world applications not only for the above countries but also for those political systems that are currently transitioning and/or consolidating their democracies as well.

From the Author

This book aspires to address a curious gap in the literature on democratization: understating how democracies might breakdown through democratic means. The summer prior to my undergraduate studies at the University of Florida I had the opportunity to live in Venezuela amid the turmoil that led to the un-making of their democracy. The experience profoundly influenced me throughout the extended journey of earning my BA in Political Science. After working in politics, I returned to graduate school to study political development in the region. Working mainly in the insular Caribbean, I struggled to understand the deep commitment to democratic norms and principles of populations that are so abused by their politicians. I began to wonder what it would take for a society deeply committed to democracy to constitutionally evict not just poor representatives, but their entire system. And, then it happened.

Venezuelans elected Hugo Chavez on his promise to end the country’s long-standing consolidated democracy. Non-constitutional efforts to provoke democratic breakdown were unsuccessful because they were not a legitimate medium for regime change. Breakdown could only come about through free and fair elections. This is not something that is addressed in the literature on consolidated democracies. The discovery of Democratic Purgatory that arose from the heuristic case study of Venezuelan collapse is illustrative to understanding how democracies must adapt to the general will of the people or become undone.

Heuristic case studies are common in the social sciences, their utility rests in their explanatory power. The rise and fall of Venezuelan democracy contain an intriguing narrative that elucidates how consolidated democracies can fail through democratic means. The objective of this monograph is to explain how these political developments have arisen, to provide evidentiary cases that represent the occurrences of democratic purgatory, and to supplement the existing theoretical outline that informs the study of democratization.
-Preface, Failed Democracies in Latin America and the Caribbean (2023)