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Sometimes it feels like we keep hearing the same gloomy news. Study after study shows signs of declining support for democracy in Latin America as its citizens find themselves wooed by populists, frustrated with their economic prospects, and worn out by crime and violence. Just 41 percent of Latin Americans are satisfied with democracy, down 16 points from a little over a decade ago, according to the 2023 AmericasBarometer study.

When it comes to the regions younger voters, the findings appear even more dire. Latin Americans under 36 are more likely to tolerate military coups and less likely to trust elections than older citizens. Thats set off alarm bells about the regions long-term commitment to democracy.

But there may be reasons for hope. It actually turns out that today's young generation is a little bit more committed to democracy than the youth of 20, 25, 30 years ago were when they were the same age, says Associate Director of Vanderbilt Universitys LAPOP Lab and Associate Professor of Political Science Noam Lupu. He is also editor of the 2023 AmericasBarometer report. While research often compares views of younger voters to those of older ones, the AmericasBarometer survey has been conducted biannually for nearly 20 years, allowingn for a comparison of young citizens views over time. The latest edition also finds that 18 to 25 years-olds are second only to respondents 66 and over when it comes to being satisfied with democracy.

In the case of Mexico, young voters are about to play a major role in charting the political future of their country, where there will be more than 20,000 seats up for grabs in June 2 elections. Campaigns officially kick off on March 1, and there are close to 48 million voters under 40, meaning nearly half of the countrys electorate. Thats more people than the entire population of any of the other five Latin American countries slated to hold presidential elections this year.

But they need to vote if they want to have an impact. Me Veo, an organization focused on getting out the vote in this election, is seeking to do just that. Alexandra Zapata, Me Veos director, told AS/COA Onlines Carin Zissis that one obstacle to getting younger generations to participate is that candidates target messaging to the older voters they think will show up. I think what would be extraordinaryand the way we can increase voter participation in June of 2024is if campaigns turn and look at young voters and what they're concerned about, says Zapata.

This is the second episode in our special series focused on 2024 elections in Latin America. The first explored El Salvadors expat votes and Nayib Bukeles global reach.

Share and subscribe at Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts to catch future episodes. Is there a topic youd like to see us cover? Send us feedback at latamfocus@as-coa.org.

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LatAm in Focus: As Mexico's Election Fires Up, a Look at Youth and Democracy - AS/COA Online

c/o Rose Chen, News Editor

The University hosted the Democracy in ActionConveningon Friday, Feb. 16 and Saturday, Feb. 17. The conventionwhichfeatured perspectives from students, faculty, and others on the connections between activism, media, and education in shaping democracy todaywas a workinprogressfor a long time, with the University promoting it through emails, posters, and social media campaigns. Events included workshops, panels, and a dinner reception.

In the early afternoon on Friday, students took part in a media literacy workshop led by Associate Professor of Government Logan Dancey, who teaches courses on data-forward approaches to political science and polarization in America.

It was very hands-on, Nicole Allina 24 said. We actually took three different claims [that were] put on Twitter and analyzed them, which I thought was an interesting way to put ideals into practice.

The workshop was followed by the Civic Action Fair, which showcased political and social activism on campus. Community members, students, faculty, and staff alike could be seen floating between tables staffed by studentgroups in the lobby of Exley Science Center.Participating organizations includedthe Wesleyan Center for Prison Education, Wesleyan Democratic Socialists of America, the Environmental Solidarity Network, and Cultivating Justice,whichis hosting the Growing Power 2024 workshop series on Saturday, Feb. 24. Also in attendance were representatives from theJewett Center for Community Partnerships, whopromoted voter registration andfacilitated the event.

Zoe Hecht26 explained that the fair allowed civic groups on campus to connect with oneanother, as well as to find potential new members and collaborators.

I was able to talk directly to other Wes students and faculty about Cultivating Justice and the upcoming Growing Power workshop series, Hecht said.

Michael Eric Dysonan academic, author, and activist who has written and edited over 25 booksdelivered the keynote address. His work covers topics from hip hop to civil rights, buthis speechfocused on the connection between higher educationand democratic values.

As bad as that is, the deep roots of anti-democracy in our nation[are] what we have to confront, Dyson said.How we got where we are [is an] unresolved tensionat the heart of the American project.

The day concluded with a dinner reception in Beckham Hall, at which event attendees and speakers mingled andengaged in topical conversations.

Saturdays session featured panels on civic education, art and activism, and media and democracy.The day started with a civic education panel moderated by Assistant Professor of Education Studies Alisha Butler.

c/o Rose Chen, News Editor

The following civic engagement panel featured Clinical Practice Department Chair and Curriculum Designer at Relay Graduate School of Education Challa Flemming 02; Presidential Professor for Education Policy and Politics and Co-Director of the Civic Engagement Research Group at the University of California, Riverside Joseph Kahne 86; Chair of Urban Studies and Professor of Political Science at the City University of New York Celina Su 99; and President of the Institute for Citizens & Scholars Rajiv Vinnakota.

The panelists stressed the importance of engagement at both the local and national levels, a topic that Vinnakota has special access tothrough his work at the Institute for Citizens & Scholars, an organization that promotes a network of ideologically diverse changemakers across the country.

Once you recognize that citizen development is much more than just voting, or just being able to pass a test on the immigration or naturalization test for someone, or so forth, [one] very quickly recognizes that it is a community responsibility, Vinnakota said.

All panelists reaffirmed the importance of civic engagement in combating threats to free speech. Flemmingwho has done research in both academic and professional contexts onteaching practices, and who wrote a dissertation exploring antiracist teacher preparationemphasized thatwe must understand our systems in orderto changethem.

We need to understand the historical underpinnings of democracy and the ability to think critically and engage with multiple sources and make sense of [them], and there are very real forces that are trying to prevent those things from happening, Flemming said in response to recent attacks on intellectual freedoms in higher education.

The art and activism panel featured a screening hosted by Associate Professor of Film Studies and Co-Director of the Wesleyan Documentary Project Tracy Heather Strain, who teaches courses on documentary storytelling and the history of documentary filmmaking at Wesleyan. The panel considered the relationship between visual art and student change-making.

Later in the day, the media and democracypanel brought together Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs and Professor of Political Science at Quinnipiac University Khalilah Brown-Dean,Executive Director at the Eisenhower Institute at Gettysburg Tracie Potts, and Molly Jong-Fast, host of the podcast Fast Politics With Molly Jong-Fast.

The panel stressed the need for local voices to be heard. According to her Quinnipiac website, Brown-Dean is a sought-after commentatorwhose work appears in over 400 major media outlets. She spoke from her experience on how the loss of non-national outlets has caused conversations to become stratified and depersonalized.

That loss of local media, local journalism, really creates disincentives for people to engage, because its easier to be in the echo chamber, Brown-Dean said. Its easier to saythe border crisis is happening far away, without thinking about the immigrant families who are right here in Middletown, who often become targeted just because of who they are, and are totally disconnected from the discourse but feel that impact.

The day was brought to a closewith a final conversation between Anand Giridharadas, who is an author and former New York Times columnist, andWesleyan President Michael Roth 78. They both stressed the importance of free inquiry and productive debate within higher education.

If we give up on the idea of persuasion, those people who dont want vaccines will never want vaccines, Giridharadas said. That kind of civic fatalism is essentially the end of American democracy.

Students who attended the event said that they valued the opportunity for current students and alumni to come together. The events alsoallowed the University to break in the newly renovated Frank Center for Public Affairs, where most of the events took place. Julia Armeli25 presented at the media literacy workshop and commented on the experience of participating in the Democracy in Action Convening.

It was fun to see so many people engaged and interested at the event, Armeli said.

Miles Craven can be reached at mcraven@wesleyan.edu.

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Democracy in Action Convening Blends Student Involvement With Academic Perspectives - Wesleyan Argus

Whats in a name? It seems in democracy as often in autocracy, having the right surname or family background means a lot, if not everything.

Prabowo Subianto, the ex-general and special forces commander, is set to become the next president of Indonesia. The man who has been implicated in some of the worst atrocities committed in his countrys recent history has successfully sold himself as a cuddly and cute grandaddy to a new generation of young voters, though not without some allegations of voter intimidation.

All eyes on Prabowo as he prepares to take charge in Indonesia

To understand his military-political career, there are two salient points: he married a daughter of the late Indonesian strongman Suharto, and he hails from a powerful banking family that holds tens of thousands of hectares of land for plantation, mining and industry.

It was ironic that for many years, he was barred from entering Australia and the United States because of allegations of human rights violations against him. These relate to the Indonesian armys role in the occupation and repression in East Timor, now Timor-Leste, and in the riots in the dying days of the Suharto regime during the Asian financial crisis, among other human rights cases.

And yet, he reportedly referred to himself as the Americans fair-haired boy. After all, he received training, as did many third world dictators and death squad leaders, in the US during the Cold War. As a young rising star in the Indonesian military, he trained at Georgias Fort Benning and North Carolinas Fort Bragg, now known as Fort Moore and Fort Liberty, respectively. And Washington tolerated, if not tacitly supported, Suhartos brutal occupation of East Timor, just as it did with the anti-communist purge which cost the lives of 400,000 to a million Indonesian civilians, many of them ethnic Chinese that was launched by Suharto as he seized power in the mid-1960s.

But thats all water under the bridge. Retiring President Joko Jokowi Widodo, who came to power thinking he would bring to justice people like Prabowo, ended up throwing his entire government apparatus to support Prabowos election bid. But that came after Jokowi and his brother-in-law, the chief justice, helped lower the age requirement in electoral law so the presidents eldest son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, could be Prabowos running mate in the election.

The pairing mirrored the 2022 election of President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr and Vice-President Sara Duterte. Sara is a daughter of Rodrigo Duterte who is Marcos Jnrs predecessor, and Ferdinand is the son of the late Marcos Snr, one of the most brutal and corrupt dictators propped up by Washington during the Cold War. The Marcos and the Dutertes are now having a fallout, which could well destabilise Philippine politics at a pivotal moment in Southeast Asian geopolitics.

We will see how long the alliance between Prabowo and his vice-presidents family will last.

Sara Duterte for president? Philippine poll complicates row between dad and boss

Meanwhile, it looks like more political drama in Pakistan with powerful but formerly enemy clans joining hands in a marriage of convenience. The problem is that in the latest election, candidates from the party of ousted and jailed prime minister Imran Khan did surprisingly well running as independents, but not enough to secure a clean majority.

Worry not. The countrys two political dynasties, the Sharif and Bhutto clans, who respectively run the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), will form a government instead. In a power-sharing deal, Shehbaz Sharif will be prime minister while Asif Ali Zardari will be president. The latter is the father of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the PPP chairman.

Washington will be pleased. In pro-Imran Khan circles, many believe the Americans wanted him out. He is now serving a total of 31 years in jail from numerous corruption sentences. Thats a bit rich since he was probably no more corrupt than most of his political peers.

Last summer, The Intercept, a US online news magazine, leaked what purported to be a confidential conversation between Pakistans then ambassador to the US, Asad Majeed Khan, and Donald Lu, the US assistant secretary of state for the bureau of South and Central Asian affairs.

Lu reportedly said: I think if a no-confidence vote against the prime minister [Khan] succeeds, all will be forgiven in Washington because the Russia visit is being looked at as a decision by the prime minister. Otherwise, I think it will be tough going ahead.

Imran Khan visited Moscow on February 24, 2022, just as Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, and Washington was furious.

A month after the alleged Asad Majeed Khan-Lu meeting, the parliament in Islamabad passed a no-confidence vote to remove Imran Khan from power. After that, an avalanche of corruption charges were laid against him.

Pakistans election results a wake-up call for its military

In neighbouring Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina has won a fifth term as prime minister. No surprise there, as her authoritarianism and political crackdowns led the opposition to boycott the election last month, so her victory was a foregone conclusion.

How did she get into politics? Well, she was a daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father and first president of the country. She is now the worlds longest-serving female head of state, thanks partly to her autocratic style taken after her father. Her sister is a leader of her ruling Awami League.

But she also deserved much credit for allowing close to a million Rohingya refugees fleeing genocide in Myanmar to enter her country in 2017. Perhaps given the nature of politics in her country and the region, you cant make an omelette without breaking some eggs.

US President Joe Biden likes to think that todays global struggle is between democracy and authoritarianism. But thats too simple as to falsify the nature of politics itself. Some authoritarian states can be quite responsive and responsible to their citizens needs while some democratic governments would just ignore them. Perhaps every democracy struggles with its innate authoritarian tendencies at some time or another throughout its history and will do so in the future.

And nowhere is it more difficult to resist authoritarianism in a democracy than when powerful clans or political dynasties dominate their countries. That to me is one of the most important lessons to be taken from quite a few elections these days.

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The revenge of (rich and powerful) families of democracy - South China Morning Post

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AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. Im Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh, as we bring you Part 2 of our conversation with civil rights attorney Ben Crump. In Part 1, we talked about Crumps attempts on behalf of the Malcolm X family to get information released by the federal government and the New York Police Department on this 59th anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X.

Today, we want to talk about the night of February 3rd, a totally different case. Eboni Pouncy and her friend were entering her friends apartment in Houston, Texas, after they forgot their house key. Suddenly, Houston police officers shot Eboni five times through a window when they arrived. They say they thought they were responding to an alleged break-in. Newly released body-camera footage shows the shooting. You can hear the barrage of bullets.

POLICE OFFICER: Go down. Go down. Go down. Shots fired. Shots fired. OK, go down. Go down.

AMY GOODMAN: Eboni Pouncy spoke to ABC News about being shot.

EBONI POUNCY: I have a baby, a beautiful baby girl. She knows that Im not able to do the things I was able to do before. And Im not able to be as attentive with my baby. Shes only 1. So, thats probably the hardest part. I started seeing holes in the walls as I was standing there. And then I realized it was something coming through the apartment. I thought it was something outside, but it was something coming from outside to inside. I see blood, not necessarily wounds. I see blood everywhere.

AMY GOODMAN: For more, were joined by Eboni Pouncys attorney, civil rights lawyer Ben Crump.

Ben, if you can tell us the story, from what you have gathered? The video footage is astounding of these officers coming up to an apartment, even if they thought there was a break-in. The women had to break the window to get in, because they didnt have their key. But the speed with which they opened fire, not even seeing what theyre shooting.

BENJAMIN CRUMP: Yeah, Amy, its very troubling. Its clearly excessive. I mean, they shot over two dozen rounds. You had the one officer empty her clip, then reload and empty the clip again, all from outside the apartment inside the apartment. And youre right. If there were hostages, if it really was a burglary, you would have shot and potentially killed them, as well. Five bullets hit Eboni Pouncy, this young Black woman, and it is a miracle that she is still alive after being shot in her left chest, her left side of her stomach, her thigh, her leg, all the way down to her feet. I mean, these bullets were just coming at her from every direction. And you saw that both of the officers were shooting from outside the apartment inside the apartment. Every expert weve talked to has said that this is very troubling, that this is a bad shoot. They identified themselves when they first knocked at the door. But Eboni and her friend was in the back of the apartment, and they didnt hear them.

Eboni, who is a law-abiding citizen, never been arrested, had every right to the Second Amendment as any other American citizen. And, you know, we can assume right now in America that the majority of citizens have availed themselves to the Second Amendment and have a right to have a gun and protect their home and their castle. Well, that applies to Black people, too. So it is very troubling that every time a Black person, a law-abiding citizen, has a gun, a police officer assumes that they are a criminal, and that they shoot first and ask questions later. It was the situation, we believe, with Atatiana Jefferson, who they shot into her apartment while she was babysitting her nephew, and killed her. And it reminds a lot of people of Breonna Taylor being killed with all those bullet holes mutilating her body, after they kicked in her front door at 1:00 in the morning, and her boyfriend Kenneth, a law-abiding citizen, had his gun, trying to protect his home.

But this situation in Houston, Texas, with the tragic shooting of Eboni Pouncy, who had to be reinstated to the hospital to remove one of the bullets that was lodged in her body just yesterday, is troubling on every level. And when you listen and watch those bodycam videos, you say, My god, when will they learn?

NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Ben Crump, whats happened to the police officers who shot Eboni?

BENJAMIN CRUMP: They have been placed on administrative leave. And thats all we know. They have not received any form of discipline, as we have been made aware of, despite this very graphic, very, very graphic, disturbing bodycam video showing them shooting at least 24 times into the apartment. They believe it may have been as many times as 30 rounds.

AMY GOODMAN: And lets be clear, they were in this apartment complex for something totally different, and someone said, Go check out whats happening there. One of the highly disturbing things is you see that the shades are almost totally drawn. And so, when theyre shooting, they can hardly see what is inside. Explain then what happens. Explain theyre two girlfriends, and the one who has the apartment, she goes out with her hands up. I mean, what happens after they shoot Eboni?

BENJAMIN CRUMP: Yeah, after Eboni has been shot, the other occupant comes out with her hands up. And she is literally saying to them, you know, We live here. Dont shoot. Please dont shoot. We live here.

And remember, when they start the shooting, they give no verbal commands. They say, Drop the gun, and as theyre saying that, they are shooting. And so, whatever verbal commands they gave, they did not give them time to acquiesce to the commands. They literally say, as theyre shooting, Drop the gun.

And Eboni, as youve heard her say in the interviews, did not know what was going on. They thought that they were being robbed, that they were being burglarized. And just like in Breonna Taylors case, theyre asleep in the back of their apartment. Police are around the house making noise. They dont know if its a burglar or not.

Why cant the police give verbal commands, give Black people time to respond, so they know if its truly a criminal situation or not, before they shoot first and ask questions later? And wheres the NRA? Where are the gun rights advocates when innocent Black people are shot by police officers? Why arent they coming to say that, Hold on, this was a law-abiding citizen who had the right to the Second Amendment also?

AMY GOODMAN: And to be clear, youre saying that Eboni they were at the back of the apartment. They hear commotion. And Eboni has a gun. And they come forward to see what the heck is going on: Is someone breaking into their apartment?

BENJAMIN CRUMP: Exactly. And in the state of Texas, you can have a gun for your protection. Theyve passed so many laws to give citizens the right to bear arms and protect themselves. So, Eboni was doing what every other citizen in the state of Texas had the right to do. But because she was a woman of color, seems like her having a gun presented a problem to the Harris County sheriffs deputies.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, Ben Crump, we want to thank you so much for being with us, civil rights attorney, representing Eboni Pouncy, who was shot five times by Houston police in her own friends apartment. To see Part 1 of our discussion with Ben about the assassination of Malcolm X and why the federal government and New York City police are not revealing all the information they have about this assassination 59 years ago, go to democracynow.org. Im Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh. Thanks so much for joining us.

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Ben Crump: Houston Police Shoot Eboni Pouncy in Friend's Apartment in Case Compared to Breonna Taylor - Democracy Now!

The 2023 edition of the Economist Intelligence Units (EIU) Democracy Index reports continued overall democratic stagnation and regression in a period characterized by growing geopolitical confrontation and the apparent powerlessness of democracies to stop violent conflict and war.

According to the 2023 Democracy Index 7.8% of the worlds population in 24 countries live in a full democracy, 37.6% in 50 countries in a flawed democracy, 15.2% in 34 countries in a hybrid regime, and 39.4% in 59 countries in an authoritarian regime. The global average score in 2023 fell from 5.29 to 5.23 compared to 2022, marking the lowest score since the index was started in 2006, and confirming a general trend of regression and stagnation in recent years according to the Economists researchers.

Greece was one of only four countries globally which registered an upgrade of classification, stepping up from flawed to full democracy after continuous efforts by Greek authorities to facilitate diaspora voting. With Chile on the other hand dropping down to flawed democracy, the total number of countries classified as full democracies remained the same. Papua New Guinea and Paraguay moved up from hybrid regimes to flawed democracies and Angola from authoritarian to hybrid regime.

From a regional perspective, western Europe, containing 15 of the 24 full democracies worldwide, was the only region to improve its average score, up from 8.36 in 2022 to 8.37 in 2023, thus overtaking North America (US and Canada, dropping from 8.37 to 8.27) as the highest ranked region. The worst performing regions were the Middle East and North Africa (down to 3.23 from 3.34) and Sub-Saharan Africa (down to 4.04 from 4.14), with Mauritius (8.14) standing out as the only full democracy. Latin America and the Caribbean experienced the eighth successive year of democratic decline, with an average score of 5.68 in 2023 compared to 5.79 in 2022.

Particularly noteworthy were deteriorations in the subregion of Central America, experiencing the biggest regression of all subregions, driven by declines in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Honduras. A notable exception in this subregion is Costa Rica, which remains at a high 8.29 since 2022, and other than Uruguay the only country in Latin America to be classified as a full democracy. The region of Asia and Australasia, containing five full democracies (Australia, Japan, New Zeeland, South Korea & Taiwan), went down from 5.46 to 5.41 while the region of Eastern Europe and Central Asia went down to 5.37 from 5.39.

A special essay included in the report provides a discussion on the evolution of war and peace in the post-World War II era, the relationship between peace and democracy, and geopolitical drivers of global conflict.

While post-Cold War conflicts have decreased compared to 1946-1991, recent years show a rise in conflicts, with 2022 seeing the highest combatant deaths since the 1980s, the report says. This suggests an era of increasing danger. The report argues that there is evidence that supports the democratic peace theory, which claims democracies are less prone to war, leading to the conclusion that the promotion of democracy could help bring about a more peaceful world.

While the democracy-peace link is evident, oversimplification may ignore other conflict drivers beyond democracys absence. Not only can lack of democracy heighten conflict risk, but rising conflicts might also weaken democracies. These conflicts, driven by geopolitical dynamics, signal a destabilizing global order and the looming threat of major power clashes. The report poitns out that the contours of a future major war are already visible.

The report argues that a reluctance on the part of the United States and Western powers to help reform the international system contributes to polarization and conflict. For too long, necessary changes to international institutions have been neglected, the essay points out. The international political system needs to be reorganised, the essay notes, and the most powerful states need to relinquish their near-monopoly over decision-making. This could be done while the values of democracy and freedom are upheld and without appeasing autocrats or violators of international law.

EIUs Democracy Index has been published annually since 2006. It makes an assessment of the state of democracy in 165 independent states and two territories, only microstates are excluded. Each country receives a score on a scale from 0-10 based on a range of indicators within five categories: electoral process and pluralism; civil liberties; the functioning of government, political participation; and political culture. Based on the average score the measured countries end up in one of four categories: full democracies (with a score of 8+ to 10); flawed democracies (6+ to 8); hybrid regimes (4+ to 6); and authoritarian regimes (0 to 4). The level of democracy in organizations of transnational governance, such as the European Union or the United Nations, is not covered.

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EIU 2023 democracy report: regression in an age of conflict - Democracy Without Borders