The Politics of Presidential Term Limits in Latin America

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

Abstract This chapter revisits the conventional wisdom about term limits in Latin America by bringing into perspective the inherent tradeoffs between electoral accountability and restrictions to incumbency advantage. While the changes in constitutional term limits that have occurred in recent decades have mostly been understood as attempts by incumbents to usurp power, this chapter suggests that a large number of these changes can instead be attributed to a process of constitutional adjustment. Movement towards less restrictive term limits need not be solely the result of dictatorial ambitions. The chapter presents the historical record, as well as a series of descriptive statistics which help shed light into this alternative view of changes to term limits over the years with evidence suggesting the increasing prevalence of a term limit regime that implies de facto longer terms for presidents, but conditional on voters’ approval.