A Democracy Results Approach: The Present Debate and Growing Consensus Surrounding the Inter-American Democratic Charter is one of the eleven articles of the special issue of Latin American Policy intended as a contribution to the institutional and official efforts by the member states and General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS), academia, and civil society to mark the tenth anniversary of the creation of the Inter-American Democratic Charter (IADC) and to capture some of the elements of the debate over the efficacy and future directions of the IADC.
Authors: Kristen Sample & Santiago MarianiAbstract
Renewed interest from Organization of American States (OAS) member states, academia, and civil society organizations in ways to make the implementation of the Inter-American Democratic Charter (IADC) more effective marked its tenth anniversary year. Drawing on discussion in the sessions of the OAS Permanent Council and various parallel events, this article describes and reviews this auspicious dynamic, focusing on the close link between democracy and integral development reflected in descriptions of social elements in several of the charter’s articles. The persistence of high rates of poverty, inequality, and indigence are among the most urgent and significant challenges to be addressed if the region’s democracies are to become consolidated, according to a growing consensus reflected in these discussions. A social charter has been proposed as a possible tool to complement the IADC in the area of social inclusion. This discussion has gone hand in hand with an effort to build consensus about the importance of integral democracy as an opportunity for the Inter-American System.
Latin American Policy—Volume 3, Number 1—Pages 119–126, 2012