Latin America is the second most democratic region in the world, right after Western Europe and North America, both with regard to the number of democratic countries or the size of the population living in democracies. On the other hand, the wave of setbacks in the quality of institutions and democratic culture has also reached Latin America – from Mexico to Argentina, including Brazil under Bolsonaro. It coincides with the deepening processes of contestation of the liberal script that began in the 2010s. This seminar will discuss the main causes of polarization and ‘democratic backsliding’ processes in the region, in a comparative perspective. It will seek to answer the question: to what extent do these processes resemble or differ in the various countries of Latin America and in comparison with Western Europe and the US?

This event is the result of a cooperation between Freie Universität's Excellence Cluster SCRIPTS, University of São Paulo (USP) and Fundação Fernando Henrique Cardoso (FHC) and you can find more information, as well as the registration form, here.