MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile, Costa Rica, Uruguay best performers in democratic development

“Great disparity” remains between good and low performers says the IDD Lat report

Chile, Costa Rica and Uruguay have the highest democratic development in Latinamerica while Guatemala and Bolivia stand at the opposite end of the ranking. The index measures among other things respect for political rights, civil liberties, institutional quality and the capacity of the different governments to deliver.

Started in 2002 by the German Christian Democrats Foundation Konrad Adenauer and the internet portal Polilat.com, the IDD index has an annual edition which in 2009 shows a slight overall advance (1%), over last year, of the region’s commitment and involvement with democracy.

However Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Paraguay have remained stagnant or fallen back while Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela have advanced.

More over the IDD shows again “a great disparity” in achievements with only 17% of countries with a high performance; 28% medium performance; and 55% in the lowest scale.

Top of the list are Chile with 10 points followed by Costa Rica with 9.66 and Uruguay, 9.22. This group is followed by Panama, 7.19; Mexico, 6.49; Argentina, 5.85 and Peru, 5.58, which are above the region’s average of 5.23. The immediately below ranked are Brazil, 4.51 and Colombia, 4.07.

Well below average figure, El Salvador, 3.49; Ecuador, 3.48; Guatemala, 3.28 and Bolivia, 2.59 points.

In spite of being ranked among the lowest, Ecuador was the country which most advanced this year and El Salvador the one which most fell back.

The report also points out that the quest for democratic development in the region these last twelve months has taken place in a context of global crisis, which not only “set doubts about the ethics and morals of democratic progress, but has created serious difficulties for the development of the region and has deepened existing inequalities”.

“The end of a cycle of bonanza is evidence of the fall in some indicators and worrisome its impact on unemployment and poverty which could lead to a crisis in most of the Latinamerican economy”, adds the document.

Furthermore the emergence of trade barriers and market restrictions has begun “to generate tensions” inside countries and among neighbours, which accumulate new serious challenges for the democratic development of the region.

“The international crisis has again questioned the Latinamerican leadership about the urgency of solving persistent institutional problems that are still pending solutions”.

Finally the IDD report points to democratic governance threats in the forms of pockets of authoritarianism, populism and cronyism which destroy the pillars on which democracy is built.