Peru then and now: The Inter‐American democratic charter and Peruvian democratization

Abstract

The insights and lessons gained by OAS efforts to defend democracy in Peru during the 1990s were the inspiration behind the Inter‐American Democratic Charter. The interim Peruvian government that replaced the Fujimori dictatorship was its original and most energetic promoter. How accurately has the Charter captured the lessons from Peru? Does the Charter fulfill Peru's current requirements in terms of strengthening democracy? Broadly speaking, this article finds that the Charter did indeed successfully enshrine the insights learned the hard way from both OAS debacle and achievement in Peru. The Charter represents a necessary juridical systematization of the assortment of principles, norms, mechanisms, and tools built up previously in a largely ad hoc fashion. The Charter effectively filled a serious gap in defending democracy in terms of providing a mechanism for responding to non‐coup d'état situations of authoritarian backsliding by elected incumbent governments. It also fused international norms of democracy and human rights by making democracy a human right, thereby strengthening domestic and international obligations to defend and promote democracy. Nevertheless, the Charter's provisions for strengthening democracy beyond an interruption or alteration in the democratic order are relatively weak. As Peru's democratic consolidation challenges illustrate, the next step in the evolution of the OAS Democratic Solidarity Paradigm, with the admirable Inter‐American Democratic Charter as its centre piece, is to define the role of the OAS, build its resources, and strengthen its capacity for assisting member states with a whole range of post‐crisis problems, including national reconciliation, strengthening political parties and civil society, and civilian supremacy over the military.