This chapter introduces the topic of Latin American presidential democracies and their often-weak political institutions facing turbulent circumstances. Democratic institutions in Latin America have worked in a context marked by the eruption of popular protest and discontent, the widespread distrust of political institutions constituting a crisis of representation and, of course, the COVID-19 pandemic. Democratic institutions in the region have also had to respond to these external challenges. In this chapter we argue the responses have taken one of three forms: executive attempts or strategies to concentrate greater power in their hands, institutional innovation and change, and/or resorting to symbolic or incomplete institutional actions. With chapters clustering around the topics of fixed terms and other problems of presidentialism, inter-institutional relations and executive accountability, as well as old and new threats to democracy, the volume concludes highlighting the resilience of the region’s institutions to the often-overwhelming turbulent circumstances of the last few years.
Frauen, oft als politische Außenseiterinnen gesehen, bringen in Krisen Erneuerung, stehen jedoch vor zusätzlichen Herausforderungen. Jeanine Añez und Dina Boluarte in Bolivien und Peru zeigen dies, mit möglichen Auswirkungen auf zukünftige weibliche politische Führungskräfte.
