Global challenges, regional responses: Latin American politics in comparative perspective

Latin America stands out today for its fast-changing, often unstable political landscape. Governments and societies have been navigating a myriad of domestic and international problems, ranging from anti-institutional protest movements and economic instability, to the rise of far-right parties and the anti-democratic use of institutions, growing politically-motivated violence, and controversies around the exploitation of natural resources key to global development, such as lithium. While global in nature, these challenges have elicited particular responses in the region that have both replicated and subverted patterns seen in other regions across the world, making their study unique and relevant in comparative perspective. This year's ECPR Section on Latin American politics encourages a comparative focus within Latin America, and across other world regions, to explore the multifaceted 'wicked problems' that set the agenda across the global and the local. We invite panels and papers that shed light on the concrete form that global challenges take in the region, draw parallels with other regional and global experiences, and highlight contextualised dynamics, conflicts, adaptations, and responses. We will place special emphasis on understanding what is specific in the way global challenges affect Latin American countries and societies, but also what experiences and insights can transcend borders and to what extent they can be compared to similar trends in Europe and other world regions. We welcome panels and papers addressing some of the following questions: ▪️ How does Latin America perform with regard to the global erosion of democratic standards, how are those standards measured, and how have governments and civil society responded? ▪️ How has the surge of far-right and populist movements affected the strength and resilience of political institutions in Latin America, to what extent do these movements reflect trends in other regions, and what can we learn from comparing them? ▪️ How is Latin America addressing environmental challenges, and what lessons can be drawn in terms of sustainable resource management and combatting extractivism? ▪️ How have recent global health challenges affected welfare infrastructures in the region? What strategies have been effective in managing the pandemic and improving public health outcomes, and what can we learn from institutional and infrastructure shortcomings? ▪️ What strategies have Latin American governments and societies adopted in response to structural economic inequalities and financial vulnerability? ▪️ How is Latin America adapting to global technological developments, and what policies have been developed to support innovation and digital inclusion? We invite panel proposals to seek gender and career balance in their composition, with representation of both established and emergent scholars and of diverse institutions across different countries. We especially welcome collaborations between scholars based in Europe and in Latin America. All-male panels will not be considered. Proposed Panels: ▪️ Presidential Regimes in Contemporary Latin America ▪️ Decentralization, Elections and Subnational Politics ▪️ Exploring tensions between Far-Right Extremism and Democracy ▪️ Populism, Voting and Elections in Comparative Perspective: Europe and Latin America ▪️ Gender and Politics: Power, Violence, Resistances ▪️ Antiracist movements in Latin America ▪️ Deliberating the Green Transition? ETMs & the institutional governance of Extractivism ▪️ Education, Inequalities, and Social Policy Responses ▪️ Advances and Setbacks in Participatory and Direct Democracy ▪️ New Technologies for (Open?) Government