The Connection between Democracy and Security in the Hemisphere: A Pluralist Approach

The topic of democratic reinforcement in the hemisphere and its relationship with the security of the continent has acquired special significance in the post-Cold War period. This essay analyzes how hemispheric democracy and security can be strengthened jointly. In the first of the three sections into which it is divided, the essay analyzes the fundamental consensus that predominates within the OAS around representative democracy as a form of government, as well as the scope that this consensus assumes in terms of effective support for such organization through the Democracy Promotion Unit (UPD) project. The second section highlights the point that beyond certain basic agreements about democracy, the concept is relative; according to the author, the multiplicity of salient angles and forms that democracy has and adopts in both theory and in practice must be accepted, since on it depends how its relationship to hemispheric security is approached. The author concludes that democratic construction cannot be based on external imposition or the action of supranational powers, and on the other hand, does need to strictly adhere to the sovereign exercise of each State. Thus, the topic of democratic reinforcement in the hemisphere is connected more to the subject of cooperation than to that of security. The third section proposes the notion of cooperative security for democracy based on a new perspective of joint cooperation for development. For the author, there is a set of socio-economic matters, closely related to democratic construction and reinforcement, that have to be incorporated into the priority agenda of hemispheric security.