Suchergebnisse

Zeitschrift für Friedens- und Konfliktforschung (ZeFKo) is a peer-reviewed journal providing a forum for theory based and methodically reflected studies from many different fields of research focusing on violence, conflict war and peace. A main goal is to stimulate interdisciplinary debates in the area of peace and conflict research. This includes ethnology, geography, history, culturural and literaterary studies, pedagogy , philosophy, political science, psychology, law, sociology, theology and natural sciences as well.

Latin America was hit by COVID-19 in a moment of (socio-)economic distress and political unrest. This essay reflects on the immediate repercussions of the COVID-19 crisis for democracy in the region. It expounds how responding to the pandemic put to the test the still consolidating democracies with their long-standing defects in the areas of political and civil rights and horizontal accountability. In the course of coping with the crisis, it is precisely in these problem areas that additional risks for democracy have arisen due to infringements of political rights and the performance of presidents. Regarding the latter, the ambiguities of presidential leadership become particularly evident when comparing pragmatic and populist responses to the crisis.