The Bolivian coup d’etat against Evo Morales was not, and should not be examined solely as, the result of a fraudulent election. To suggest this erases the deep entrenchment of Bolivia’s neo-fascist …
An Alternative to Militarization: Building Public Infrastructure to Fight Crime
The intuitive approach to deterring criminal behavior is to punish it. But what if legal behavior were instead incentivized such that criminal activity lost some of its relative appeal? Years of …
Negotiating with MS-13: Pragmatism, Corruption, or Both?
Outrage, shock and dismay greeted the publication of a report from El Faro news site claiming that El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele “cut deals” with the Mara Salvatrucha gang (MS-13) in order to …
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AMLO’s Amnesty Proposal: How Government Pardon in Mexico Adds Fuel to the Fire
Mere weeks before assuming office as the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, often referred to as AMLO, published an eight-pillared plan for the construction of a peaceful future for the …
Grappling with the Legacy of Evo Morales and the Future of Bolivian Democracy
On November 10, 2019, facing claims of election fraud and demands from the country’s military for his resignation, Bolivian President Evo Morales stepped down, after almost 14 years at the head of the …
Peru’s Reformer President Undermines Democratic Norms
When Martín Vizcarra first assumed the Peruvian presidency in 2018, he appeared to be the unlikely hero to restore the nation’s faith in democracy. Vizcarra inherited the office of President …
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How Jair Bolsonaro’s Presidency Incites Democratic Erosion in Brazil
According to political scientist Juan J. Linz, the countries that are most vulnerable to democratic breakdowns are those that are relatively new democracies, and this is no exception for …
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Chile: A Formerly Stable Democracy in Breakdown
Chile is frequently considered the gem of democracy in Latin American, but recent protests reveal that Chile’s democracy is unstable and rapidly deteriorating. Ongoing protests over rampant inequality …
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