THE INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL CRISIS, ECONOMIC POLICIES AND DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE IN LATIN AMERICA

Abstract

The article investigates the effects of the international financial crisis in Latin American economies and the policies that have been adopted to address them. It explains the economic consequences and those that have an impact on democratic governance in the countries of the region, pointing out that in Latin America there was a shift – rhetoric in some cases, real in others – towards the strengthening of State intervention in the economy a decade before the 2008-09 crisis. The analysis shows that, in general, countries of the region are not changing their macroeconomic strategies or their development agenda as a response to the international crisis. This aggravates long-term restrictions on the growth of Latin American economies, and it is unlikely that they will be eliminated by the responses that have been made so far to the financial global crisis. However, it seems that the international crisis has not thrown into crisis the democratic governance of the countries of the region. The author concludes emphasizing that it is crucial that governments – beside sensibly reducing the effects of the crisis on employment and poverty - adopt structural policies that would bring their economies on a path of sustained and equitable growth.

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