After the third wave of democratization in Latin America, scholarly attention was devoted to the idea of democratic consolidation. Scholars appeared concerned about whether the newly established democratic order would last. There was particular concern about the ability of civilian governments to keep the military in their barracks. However, recent events have shown that democracy is far from consolidated. Some presidents in the region have adopted “styles” that appear to be deleterious for democratic rule. In this sense, new threats to democracy come not from external actors but from some of its very own elected officials. In some of these cases democratic institutions are put to the test. Are individuals stronger than institutions? Can presidents reform democracies into authoritarian regimes? In this paper I explore the extent to which democratic institutionalization can counterbalance these types of “undemocratic reforms”.
