The cycle of videoconferences LA DEMOCRACIA EN EL MOMENTO ACTUAL was carried out between July 24 and December 18, 2020, as an initiative of the Electoral Tribunal of Panama, through its Institute for Democratic Studies, in collaboration with the Konrad Adenauer Siftüng (KAS) and International IDEA. The speakers, expert political scientists and constitutionalists from Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico, the United States and Spain, spoke about democracy in Latin America and the difficulties it faced before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The valuable interventions of most of the participants in the cycle are gathered in this book in the form of chapters, which address topics such as: the diversity of electoral systems, democratic culture, popular consultations, electoral parity, the impact of new information and communication technologies in contemporary democracies, among others. There is no doubt that democracy in Latin America already presented, at the end of 2019, a worrisome picture. Multiple signs of citizen dissatisfaction with the functioning of democratic institutions had become present. These symptoms gave way to popular movements that expressed disenchantment and demanded substantial changes in the way democratic politics was conducted, and demanded greater efficiency in the production of public goods. Just when it seemed that we were at a particularly demanding juncture, a world crisis appeared, putting additional pressure on both the democratic decision-making processes and the most basic public services that the State should provide. The public health services, first, and education, shortly after, offered the citizens of Latin America the panorama of institutional fragility so frequent in our countries. It is within this framework that the authors of the chapters that make up this book participated in the aforementioned conferences, contributing all their knowledge, experience and reflections on democracy to the Latin American community. Democracy is a political system that allows the pooling of individual and collective energies to achieve collective objectives. Today, probably more than ever, we must guard that legacy of institutions and rights, of norms and practices, which make most Latin American countries democratic countries. In this endeavor we will preserve both the achievements of the recent past of Latin American history - the overcoming of naked dictatorships - and the ambition to build full democracies, while we fight, in a participatory manner and with the best chance of success, the pandemic. I close this brief presentation by celebrating the timely collaboration between the Electoral Tribunal of Panama, the Konrad Adenauer Siftüng (KAS) and International IDEA, and by thanking the speakers who, with the information and sharp reflections offered during the videoconference cycle, provide interested readers with a broad overview of DEMOCRACY IN THE PRESENT MOMENT.
