The Latin American Exodus and the troubles of democracy: A systemic review

Abstract

The objective of this essay is to review the new narrative in systems theory applied to the understanding of international migration in the context of the globalization-deglobalization dichotomy. For this, we focus on the so-called Latin American exodus, highlighting the Central American one, since we can observe a massification of international migration, which was already reported at the end of the nineties of the 20th century by Castles and Miller and has had a substantial increase from 2012 (Rodríguez 2016). Likewise, we propose to review the economic factors that cause this Central American migration and its characteristics in transit through Mexico as of 2018, derived from the economic crisis that led to a questioning of Latin American democracy, and specifically Central America.

Migration could not be understood without the issue of racism, xenophobia, and aporophobia that is implicit in its displacement. In this context, mass migration puts the spaces in their mobility in crisis; simultaneously, it puts in trouble the institutions of the countries that are supposed to be democratic, those of transit and destination. Likewise, the Central American exodus could not be understood without the environmental factor. Still, as a whole (of the systemic factors), it implies methodological challenges of migration in the modern democracy of Central America, Mexico, and Latin America, and, of course, that of the United States., which is the fate of the Central American exodus and that of the rest of the world.