COVID-19 May Ultimately Strengthen Latin America’s Democracies, Not Destroy Them

“Pandemic backsliding” That is the label that V-Dem, the world’s leading database on democratic regimes, used to warn about the risks democracies face as the coronavirus spreads V-Dem’s assumption is that “emergency provisions, such as the ones in place in many countries during the current COVID-19 crisis, enable states to temporarily limit personal freedoms and checks and balances to react effectively in situations of crisis” The problem emerges when “some leaders abuse such tools to foster more permanent autocratization by (a) imposing measures that are disproportionate to...

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