Reflecting on Democracy and Solidarity: Highlights from the DRCLAS 30th Anniversary Symposium
As part of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies’ 30th Anniversary Symposium, leading voices from across the region gathered to reflect on the urgent challenges—and enduring possibilities—facing democracy in Latin America today.
The conversation, anchored by DRCLAS Faculty Director Steven Levitsky, brought together former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, and former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo. Together, they explored how the region’s democratic progress is being tested by rising authoritarianism, deepening inequality, and growing citizen frustration.
Levitsky opened the event with a message that blended gratitude with resolve. While the symposium was a moment to celebrate three decades of academic exchange and regional collaboration, it also served as a call to action. “We are living in dark times,” he acknowledged, “when basic liberal principles—free inquiry, open expression, scientific progress, and a rules-based international order—are under threat.”
While acknowledging the democratic advances of the past four decades, the speakers painted a sobering picture of the present. Latin America is facing a difficult moment, with the extraordinary democratic progress of recent decades now in peril. Venezuela and Nicaragua have plunged into outright dictatorships. El Salvador and Mexico have slid into what one speaker described as competitive authoritarianism. Criminal organizations have expanded operations, causing dangerous spikes in violent crime and making parts of the region almost unlivable. Persistently high levels of crime, corruption, and inequality have dangerously eroded public trust in governments, political parties, and even democracy itself.
Michelle Bachelet emphasized that many governments have failed to deliver on the promise of democracy. “People want results: dignity, safety, opportunity,” she said. “When politics becomes disconnected from real concerns, people turn to those who speak directly to their frustration.”
The speakers identified a series of interconnected causes behind the current crisis:
• Democracy is not delivering: Despite free elections, citizens see little change in their daily lives. Inequality, insecurity, and economic hardship persist.
• Disconnected political elites: Traditional parties are out of touch with citizens’ priorities and rely on outdated narratives.
• Failures of representation: Parties have lost their capacity to connect people and institutions, prompting voters to seek alternatives.
• Broken connection to aspirations: Democracy is about hope and opportunity, not nostalgia or obligation. When it no longer fuels aspiration, it loses legitimacy.
• The appeal of simplification: Populist outsiders offer simple-sounding solutions to complex problems, appealing to frustration.
• Societal change: Issues like organized crime, violence, and migration now dominate public concern, requiring updated responses.
• Weak party structures: Parties often lack internal renewal processes, paving the way for authoritarian outsiders.
Zedillo cautioned that “what has failed are not the ideals of democracy, but the elites who overpromised and underdelivered.”
Speakers also raised the alarm about how some democratically elected leaders have used their mandates to dismantle democratic institutions from within. Levitsky described this dynamic as one of the most insidious threats to democracy today.
The situation in Venezuela was presented as both a dire warning and a source of hope. Machado described a regime that has evolved into a criminal autocracy, with large swaths of the country under the control of illicit networks. Despite a total media blackout and intense repression, a grassroots campaign led by Machado mobilized millions, offering proof of widespread opposition and resilience. “The regime is spiritually, politically, socially, and electorally defeated,” she said.
Bachelet drew lessons from Chile’s transition to democracy and offered them as advice to Machado, including the importance of designing credible elections, offering transitional justice, and guaranteeing protections for vulnerable groups. Above all, she stressed the need for reconciliation: “We must re-encounter one another and build mutual respect if we are to move forward.”
Mexico’s democratic trajectory also came under scrutiny. Zedillo warned that the country is undergoing a constitutional slide toward autocracy, with power increasingly centralized and institutions of accountability weakened or dismantled. “People are pretending nothing has happened,” Zedillo noted, contrasting this with the vocal and visible resistance seen in Venezuela.
The erosion of the state’s monopoly on the legitimate use of force emerged as another core challenge. Criminal organizations have filled power vacuums, making it essential for states to rebuild capacity while preserving civil liberties. Speakers called for significant investment in policing, intelligence, and regional cooperation—as well as a shift in drug policy from a criminal justice framework to one grounded in public health and human rights.
Despite the bleakness of these diagnoses, the conversation was also filled with hope. The enduring will of citizens to organize, the mobilization of youth, and the example of leaders like Bachelet and Machado were all cited as reasons for optimism. “People are still willing to fight for democracy,” said Levitsky. “And that’s where our greatest hope lies.”
Levitsky closed the session by returning to a central idea: the importance of building and sustaining international friendships. “Our future,” he said, “depends on the strength of our alliances and the friendships we build.”
The DRCLAS 30th Anniversary Symposium was not only a celebration of the past—it was a call to recommit to the democratic values that have always been at the heart of the Center’s mission: education, exchange, and the power of connection to drive change.