A Tale of a Failed Recovery: Ecuador’s Democratic Stagnation

Abstract

Ecuador experienced a dramatic process of democratic backsliding during Rafael Correa’s decade-long administration, which began in 2007. The Correa administration brought plebiscitary overrides and constitutional reengineering that made the government a hyperpresidential one, weakening political institutions and undermining basic civil liberties. When Correa left power in 2017, Ecuador’s democracy recovered; but, even with the promise of an enduring democratic future, the country has not been able to consolidate a functioning representative democratic regime, and new processes of backsliding have occurred. A combination of weak political institutions, poor democratic culture, and major threats to political stability—including the infiltration of organized crime into the political arena—seems to have stagnated Ecuador at the status of a low-quality delegative democracy.