Democracy In Latin America

Uruguay ranked number 17 on the Global Democracy Ranking in 2014, making it the most democratic state in all of Latin America (The Economist Intelligence Unit. Democracy Index 2014). The transition from a civilian parliamentary governed by elites to military rule and finally to a full democracy took the country through destructive civil wars, an unstable economy, and military brutality. The one feature that has remained constant through all of the country’s turmoil is the perseverance of its political parties.

Before the arrival of Europeans, the area that is now Uruguay was inhabited by groups of indigenous Indians. The land has always been fertile and abundant and perfect for use as pastures for grazing cattle. The cattle that roamed the

Ferdinand Magellan was the next explorer to come to the region and anchored at the future site of Montevideo. Jesuit and Franciscan missions were established around 1620, but by that time thousands of the indigenous population had died from European diseases leaving the missionaries without much work (Alisky “Uruguay”). The Portuguese made the first move towards colonization by building Colonia Del Sacramento on the Río de la Plata opposite Buenos Aires. To counter the Portuguese advancement on the land, the Spaniards established he fortified city of San Felipe De Montevideo in 1725. The location the Spaniards chose was significant because the fort could be used to intercept Portuguese ships that were headed to Colonia Del Sacramento. Eventually Spanish authorities attacked Colonia, and it ultimately was ceded to Spain in

This is an impressive ranking considering that the United States came in at nineteenth place. “The Democracy Index is based on five categories: electoral process and pluralism; civil liberties; the functioning of government; political participation; and political culture. Based on their scores on a range of indicators within these categories, each country is then categorized as one of four types of regime: “full democracies”; “flawed democracies”; “hybrid regimes”; and “authoritarian regimes”. (The Economist Intelligence Unit. Democracy Index 2014) Since the Index was created in 2006, Brazil and Uruguay were the only countries to make it to a “full” democracy. A full democracy is one that has a functioning government, an effective system of checks and balances, independent and diverse media, and has an independent judiciary system whose decisions are enforced.

Uruguay’s economy under the current government ranked 43rd on the 2015 Index of Economic Freedom with a score of 68.6 out of 100, a score that places Uruguay 5th in the region. The index is based on a country’s rule of law, limited government, regulatory efficiency, and open markets. Uruguay’s score has declined by 1.4 points over the past five years due partly to trade restrictions in Argentina, and an increase in urban crime and violence (Miller, Kim 2015 Index of Economic Freedom). Even with the decline, Uruguay is still above the world’s average