A panel of international experts recently urged Latin America to strengthen its democratic institutions in order to better meet the challenges of economic growth and stability.

“You cannot have a healthy economy when the political system is sick,” said IDB President Enrique V. Iglesias at the start of the seminar “Politics and Governance in Latin America,” held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Bank’s Board of Governors in New Orleans.

Pollsters say the Latin American public is dissatisfied with the quality of government.
(Photo: David Mangurian - IDB)

Carlos Ruckauf, governor of the Argentine province of Buenos Aires, warned that Latin America is still haunted by authoritarianism of past years despite recent democratic gains. While public spending is indispensable in such areas as roads and education, “we have to spend in a better way, ” he said.

Dieter Nohlen, deputy director of the Institute of Political Science at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, said it was important that a political system—be it presidential or parliamentary, centralized or decentralized—be accepted by the citizenry as legitimate. That means that each system must be evaluated in the historical context of a given country, he said.

According to Ricardo Hausmann, IDB chief economist, there is a strong relationship between good governance and economic success. But in measures of the rule of law, control of corruption, government effectiveness, and quality of the regulatory environment, Latin America ranks behind Asia and far behind the most developed countries, he said.

Opinion polls show that Latin Americans are dissatisfied with the quality of their governments and think corruption is getting worse, Hausmann said.

Political problems confronting Latin America include fragmentation of parties, volatility in voting patterns, low levels of popular participation, governments elected by a minority of voters, lack of transparency in government, and lack of cohesion and coordination between the legislative and executive branches, he said.

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