Strengthening checks and balances: Democracy defence and promotion in the Americas
The Inter‐American Democratic Charter fails to specify the meaning of an “unconstitutional alteration or interruption of the democratic order.” Arguing that the principle threat to democracy in Americas is the violation of the separation of powers by democratically elected leaders, five conditions are outlined to specify when such an alteration has occurred. The crisis in Peru in 2000 is examined to show how the presence of these conditions gave rise to the Charter, and the crisis in Venezuela in April 2002 is used as a test of the Charter. The paper concludes with recommendations for strengthening the Charter.