Why presidentialism is faltering in Latin America and the USA
Presidentialism is suffering throughout the Americas: cplpa of the inadequacies of politics and its distortions. The in-depth analysis of Livio Zanotti, author of Ildiavolononmuoremai
In the increasingly close dispute, the first point of agreement – only apparently obvious – is that the presidential systems do not bring with them any prodigies: they can work or not, just as much as the parliamentary ones. The second is that in Latin America – but even in the United States – they are now limping to such an extent that there are fears of some collapse of democracy. These are the two conclusions made up to now by the heated Latin American debate on the widespread and evident crisis of presidentialism. Which in respect of the different historical experiences, now coincides temporally with the Italian one on the inadequacies of our parliamentary system. And in both the American hemispheres as well as on both sides of the Atlantic it involves academic research and policy debate since before the Trump administration's disruptive finale in Washington.
WHAT UNITES LATIN AMERICAN PRESIDENTIALISM
The geographical and juridical vastness of the existing presidential systems easily suggests their innumerable diversities and versions. What keeps them nominally together, within the framework of a clear separation of republican powers, is the direct popular election of the President. In addition to that of the state, he is also entrusted with the leadership of the government, without the need for a specific approval from Parliament. This still powerful strengthening, however, is more or less markedly conditioned in the various countries by the equally varied and numerous prerogatives instead recognized to other powers of the state: the legislative and the judiciary in primis . In recent decades, for example, the constitutional amendments made in Latin America have almost all been in favor of a greater capacity for intervention of the judiciary. In order to deal with a corruption perceived to be on the increase by public opinion.
THE PROBLEMS OF CHILE AND THE UNITED STATES
In Chile, the current drafting of the new Charta Magna will have to determine the limits of government intervention on the rights of indigenous peoples with respect to the ancestral lands they claim and those of all citizens with regard to public health and education. The democratic spirit and the coexistence of all Chileans are therefore at stake with the powers of the head of state and the government. A historic knot that binds the entire subcontinent. Two well-known international specialists in political systems, the Peruvian Maria Milagros Campo and the Chilean Christofer Martinez, have compiled a ranking from the most to the least of the real and direct powers recognized by the respective constitutional charters to the presidents of 20 Latin American countries. But the Colombian Gustavo Petro, who is indicated in theory as the most powerful of all, has just unpacked and reassembled his cabinet because the reforms he proposes do not make a step forward. For second in the ranking, Lula, the Congress of Brasilia has not yet passed a single law for him.
After all, Joe Biden doesn't have an easier life. Influenced by their pasdaran in the Senate and in the House of Representatives, the Republicans have so far prevented him from adjusting the public debt ceiling historically already revised dozens of times (currently equal to 120 percent of GDP) to the increase in spending. It is a current practice everywhere: the oppositions demand conspicuous favors in return. But this time in Washington playing with fire, because if they don't find an agreement within the next month, the United States will default and there is no need to remember that the consequences would cause a global catastrophe. It is another example of the showdown taking place between the executive and legislative branches of every continent. It shows the limits of presidentialism when it does not have its own parliamentary majority, as is now the case almost always and everywhere. It helps to understand how the urgency of an adequate electoral law is connected to the institutional question. Because, here is the bottom line: the institutional question is a social question.
The global fragmentation of the labor market and consequently of the income produced is at the origin of the ever greater difficulties of politics in governing both with the parliamentary system and with the presidential one. Sharpened by contrast by a preponderant financial concentration. Both are reflected in the political behavior of citizens, in the levels of their participation in public life, in a frequent and abnormal volatility of the vote (all considerations of liquid companies ). This determines for the parties which are in turn fragmented the increasingly pressing need for electoral coalitions, the degree of heterogeneity of which, however, conditions the coherence of the program and the possibilities of realizing it. To remain in Latin America, despite the specific situation of each one, this is the origin of the increasingly evident difficulties of government with which the presidents Gabriel Boric in Chile, Lula da Silva in Brazil, Gustavo Petro in Colombia, Alberto Fernandez in Argentina, Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador in Mexico.
THE PROTAGONISM OF THE NEW RIGHTS
The inconveniences are as strong as the risks they entail. Because they push opposing alternatives to extremes and accelerate their commuting, injecting growing tensions into the democratic framework. In the phase currently underway, the new right-wings have appeared as protagonists, hyper-liberal in economics but politically dogmatic. In fact, their main component comes from traditionalist Catholic and above all Evangelical extremism. The renewed mingling of religion with politics serves the latter to camouflage its fall in credibility with the mystical fideism of the former. Despite its name, the Republican Party that triumphed in the recent constitutional elections in Chile has Opus Dei behind it. The Argentine right has a host of leaders who are sons of evangelical pastors. In Brazil it is evangelicals and soldiers who support Bolsonarismo. Sources also of the return of caudillist adventurism. The systematic obstructionism of the opposition to the reforms essential to the revival of development is loading a time bomb.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/presidenzialismo-america-latina/ on Sat, 20 May 2023 04:58:21 +0000.