After the euphoric “third wave” of democracy came the pessimism. The peak time of illusion was short, marked by the fall of the Berlin Wall and the proclamation of the “end of history.” During the last two decades, the intellectual tendency—notable among Latin Americans—has been to ruminate upon the “authoritarian tradition.” An essay by Marc Plattner—coeditor of the Journal of Democracy—invites us to pay more attention to the other side of the coin and to reevaluate the “the resilience of democracy.”
In “The Resilience of Democracy, (PDF)” Eduardo Posada-Carbó reflects on the 20th Anniversary of the Journal of Democracy.
The article first appeared as “La resistencia democrática” in El Tiempo (Bogota) on 22 January 2010.