The Democratic Charter: The State of the Debate

Abstract

This special issue of LatinAmerican Policy is intended as a contribution to the institutional and official efforts by the member states and General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS), academia, and civil society to mark the tenth anniversary of the creation of the Inter-American Democratic Charter (IADC) and to capture some of the elements of the debate over the efficacy and future directions of the IADC. Accordingly, it draws together the authors of eleven original articles, all of whom, in addition to being practitioners or academics, are stakeholders in and students of the Inter-American System and the IADC. Despite its noble character and intentions and the agreement of all that the past decade has shown clearly that the Democratic Charter continues to be of immense relevance to the Inter-American System, it is in need of strengthening. Many also share a common belief that the IADC itself need not be reopened, but rather that a variety of complementary measures must be found to improve its application in the defense and promotion of representative democracy in the Americas. Here the consensus among them ends. In this introduction, we the invited editors establish the state of the debate on the IADC. We identify seven key issues that appear in the articles of this collection: the evolving regional context in which the IADC has operated; establishing benchmarks for collective action; monitoring and peer review mechanisms; reinforcing the OAS Secretary General’s authority; democratizing access to the IADC; development, human rights, citizenship, and security; and better use of existing resources. The authors engage in lively discussions and differential emphasis within and across these categories.