COVID-19 and the Stakes for Democracy in South America

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Event Description

The COVID-19 pandemic is not just a health crisis, or even an economic crisis, but also a critical inflection point for democracy and the rule of law. The pandemic has presented a test for the legitimacy of democratic governance, and perhaps nowhere are the stakes higher than in Latin America, which as of August 5, as a region had the world’s highest death toll per population.

Even before the pandemic, the region as a whole faced staggering levels of social inequality and political polarization. Chile had been wracked by months of massive protests against neoliberal austerity, and is now preparing for a national referendum on a constitutional reform. In Colombia, the Supreme Court ordered the house arrest of former president Alvaro Uribe, unleashing calls for judicial and constitutional reform. Brazil’s conservative populist president, Jair Bolsonaro, repeatedly dismissed the seriousness of the virus, and often found himself at odds with the judiciary. In Argentina, a new administration, which was facing a social and economic crisis before COVID-19, has now proposed sweeping judicial reform that critics see as institutionalizing impunity.

A panel of leading constitutional and human rights scholars from three South American nations will join us to analyze these developments and discuss their expectations for the post-pandemic future of their countries.

Panelists

  • Introduction: Carmel Shachar, Executive Director, The Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School
  • Lidia Casas, Professor and Director of Human Rights Center, Universidad Diego Portales, Chile
  • Octávio Ferraz, Associate Professor, King’s College London
  • Roberto Gargarella, Conicet Senior Researcher and Professor Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • Moderator: Alicia Ely Yamin, Senior Fellow in Global Health and Rights, The Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School

Sponsored by the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School and the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University with support from the Oswald DeN. Cammann Fund at Harvard University.