A Deficit of Democratic Authenticity: Political Linkage and the Public in Andean Polities

In: Studies in comparative international development, Band 31, Heft 3, S. 32-55

Abstract

It is argued that Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, & Venezuela are political systems suffering from an acute deficit of democratic authenticity, ie, a loss of substance in democratic processes, as a result of malfunctions in the mechanisms of political linkage & multiple barriers that inhibit effective citizen participation in public life. Rather than acceding to minimalist interpretations of democracy that deemphasize the importance of active citizen participation, emphasized is the importance of maintaining a rigorous normative definition of democracy as the standard by which to assess the state of democratic political development. 1 Table, 28 References. Adapted from the source document.