The charter vs constitutional military involvement in politics

Abstract

The Inter‐American Democratic Charter relies on the phrase “an unconstitutional alteration or interruption of a state's democratic order” as the central criterion for triggering the most powerful new set of diplomatic and political mechanisms for protecting democracy in Latin America. This article contends that identifying the constitutional status of even extreme subversions of the democratic order, such as a military coup, is not always straightforward. It shows that Latin American constitutions are often ambiguous and contradictory documents, which have provided the military with plenty of room for constitutional political involvement. The article concludes that a more robust regional mechanism for protecting democracy requires, as a starting point, a more pointed debate over the limits of non‐democratic practices, particularly by the military, permitted in Latin American constitutions.