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Introduction
Over the last several decades, governments have collectively pledged to slow global warming. But despite intensified diplomacy, the world is already facing the consequences of climate…
Shared Challenges to Democracy and the Rule of Law in the Americas
Project Expert
About the Project
Nearly all the countries of North, Central, and South America are democracies. They confront shared challenges when it comes to preserving democratic institutions and norms and upholding the rule of law. Polarized politics and conflict between presidents and legislatures are putting democracies to the test across the Americas. In much of South and Central America, the rule of law is also under threat. Bribery, embezzlement, and tax evasion undermine the capacity of states to provide basic public goods. Transnational criminal organizations evade or co-opt judiciaries and security forces to traffic illicit drugs, goods, and people with impunity. The crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border and the fentanyl epidemic are two downstream consequences which directly impact daily life in the United States. The Project on Shared Challenges to Democracy and the Rule of Law in the Americas investigates how democracies across the hemisphere are facing up to these tests individually and together. Through roundtables, op-eds, and articles, I examine the forces driving political instability and weakening the rule of law. I also explore obstacles and opportunities facing the United States and its partners as they seek joint responses to cross-border challenges.
Events
Will Freeman, fellow for Latin America studies at CFR, discusses the political landscape in Latin America and its implications for migration trends, the opioid crisis, and trade relations with the Un…
Panelists discuss the status of democracy in Latin America, including the possibility of increased U.S. support, and the trends contributing to fluctuations in democracy across the region.
This meeting is part of the Diamonstein-Spielvogel Project on the Future of Democracy.
Blogs
Four policy ideas to curb illegal gold mining in the Western Hemisphere.
Four steps Congress and U.S. embassies can take to safeguard remittances from abuse.
Organized crime is today an even more intractable problem for Latin America’s democracies than the anti-democratic coup-makers, insurgents, and oligopolists of the past. But governments don’t have to let it go unchecked.
Gustavo Petro must rethink his talks with armed groups before they fail completely.
The country’s military brass has a larger role governing Mexico than at any time in the past eighty years. It’s creating a dangerous dependency that won’t be easy to break.
Criminal groups have captured parts of the state. A broad political coalition must fight corruption and root them out.
Petro’s peace plan is neither a total failure nor a total success, for now.
Peru's President Dina Boluarte and Congress have eroded democratic norms in the country, spurring protests. However, unless an opposition leader emerges, this new wave of protests will fall short.
Forget regional integration. Basic diplomacy will remain an uphill battle until the region’s leaders return to a shared definition of democracy.
American-made guns trafficked through Florida ports are destabilizing the Caribbean and Central America and fueling domestic crime. It's time for the United States to get serious about stopping the flow.
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The arrival of more than one hundred thousand migrants and asylum seekers in New York City and other major U.S. cities over the past year has sparked renewed debate over U.S. immigration policy.
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Cuba’s authoritarian regime has failed to avert an economic crisis, repair decaying state institutions, and prevent the country’s largest outflow of migrants since the 1960s.
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The mass protests that have rocked Peru since December threaten to upend regional supply chains, intensify migration flows, and strain Lima’s bilateral relations.
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