Introduction: Democracy, State and Public Policies in Latin America

Abstract

Once again, the Andean Journal of Political Studies presents a new issue with three contemporary academic articles and a very good quality interview. Unlike the previous issues, this volume brings with it articles on various topics that reflect the socio-political problems faced by most Latin American countries; Meanwhile, they are linked to a common theme: democracy and its development in the 21st century.Let us observe that Latin American countries are relatively young with respect to democratic consolidation since for long periods they oscillated between civil and military governments. Thus, despite the intention of consolidating democracy, there is still a certain ambiguity between the authoritarian and democratic lines in the political decision-making by the Latin American rulers.