https://doi.org/10.25058/20112742.n37.10

Juan Felipe Quintero Leguizamón
jfquintero@unicolmayor.edu.co

Estefan Baleta López
ebaleta@unicolmayor.edu.co

Ramiro Rodríguez Beltrán
Universidad Colegio Mayor de Cundinamarca
rirodriguez@unicolmayor.edu.co

Abstract:

Democracies in Latin America are a matter of dispute within the framework of the interpretation, analysis, and proposals by varied actors: scholars, political parties, social movements, churches, NGOs, multilateral agencies, and in some cases, illegal armed actors. In this field of dispute, the spotlight is in reports prepared by institutions like the United Nations (UN) —through their UN Development Program (UNDP), the Organization of American States (OAS), the US Agency for International Development (US-AID), and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Besides meeting the establishment’s interests, these organizations often formulate a series of recommendations that are almost mandatory for the State members under penalty of losing international support. Drawing from a critical analysis of these reports, backed on discourse analysis, this article makes an emphasis on the articulation of democracies in Latin America with issues of social justice, citizenship, and the State-sovereignty relation.

Keywords: democracy, institutionalism, social justice, citizenship, State, sovereignty.