#198 New Democracies, Which Democracies?
By Francisco C. Weffort
From the Introduction
"New democracies" are those democratic regimes that have emerged since the 1970s, the first of which arose with the "revolution of the carnations" in 1974, in Portugal. This began a historical wave that has had its most recent manifestation in the political changes in Eastern Europe (1989) and the Soviet Union (1991). The label fits, for example, political regimes such as the current ones in Spain, Brazil, or Poland; they have in common the recent demise of previous dictatorships, which led to the recovery of a democracy that was never really consolidated in their historical past.
New democracies are democracies in the making. They are in the making under political conditions of a transition process that makes it inevitable for them to mix important legacies from their authoritarian past. They are in the making also in times of social and economic crises that accentuate situations of extreme and growing social ineguality. As a result, they are taking on a peculiar institutional shape that puts more emphasis on delegation than on representation (or participation). Leadership (and such related institutions and attributes as political craftsmanship) matters for the consolidation of democracy. Thus, the consolidation of new democracies is more difficult than was the process of transition.
Related Program
Latin America Program
The Wilson Center’s prestigious Latin America Program provides non-partisan expertise to a broad community of decision makers in the United States and Latin America on critical policy issues facing the Hemisphere. The Program provides insightful and actionable research for policymakers, private sector leaders, journalists, and public intellectuals in the United States and Latin America. To bridge the gap between scholarship and policy action, it fosters new inquiry, sponsors high-level public and private meetings among multiple stakeholders, and explores policy options to improve outcomes for citizens throughout the Americas. Drawing on the Wilson Center’s strength as the nation’s key non-partisan policy forum, the Program serves as a trusted source of analysis and a vital point of contact between the worlds of scholarship and action. Read more
