The Third Wave's Lessons for Democracy

Abstract: This essay analyzes the trajectory of the third wave of democratization in Latin America and suggests five broad lessons that stem from the region's experience. This essay argues that the period from 1978 to 2002 witnessed a remarkably broad and sustained burst of democratization, but that the last two decades have seen modest erosion. The lessons are that: 1) Democracies can survive for an extended time, even in difficult structural conditions; 2) Democracies often get stuck; they neither deepen nor die; 3) Authoritarian actors often retain great power long after democratic transitions; 4) Counterintuitively, powerful new authoritarian actors often emerge under democracy; and 5) Even as the global and regional environment has darkened, democracy can make surprising advances.