Camden Conference -- "Elections, Populism, and Democratic Backsliding in the Americas"

Democratic backsliding is the processes of political change in which countries that enjoy a certain level of democracy become significantly less democratic. Countries across the Americas--a continent of which the United States is part--have experienced significant democratic backsliding over the 21st century. What explains this recent wave of democratic erosion? More specifically why has democratic backsliding occurred under the leadership of freely elected governments? Drawing on the experiences of Mexico and countries in Central and Latin America, Professor Pérez-Armendáriz highlights two pathways for democratic backsliding and suggests some opportunities and strategies for protecting this form of government.

Clarisa Pérez-Armendáriz is Associate Professor of Politics and Chair of the Latin American and Latinx Studies Program at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. Her research explores how international migrants influence politics in their countries of origin, particularly in the context of crime and violence. Her publications appear in Comparative Political Studies, Studies in Comparative International Development, the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, and Comparative Migration Studies. At Bates College, she teaches Comparative Politics, Political Violence in Latin America, Latinx Politics, and Latin American Politics. Professor Pérez-Armendáriz completed her Ph.D. in Government at the University of Texas at Austin. She also has a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government with an emphasis on International Security, and a B.A. in International Relations from Pomona College. She served as a US Foreign Service officer in Mexico City and India from 1998-2002. She and her two daughters have been Auburn residents for nearly 15 years.

This program will take place in person, in the Androscoggin Community Room.  Registration is requested for our planning purposes.  Register below or call the Reference Desk at 207-333-6640, ext. 4.

The Camden Conference was founded in 1987 as a nonprofit, non-partisan educational organization whose mission is to foster informed discourse on world issues.

The 2025 conference, "Democracy Under Threat:  A Global Perspective" will take place on February 21-23, 2025, in person at the Camden Opera House, Camden, Maine.  This year's conference "...will look at some of the specific drivers that challenge democracies worldwide and some of the underlying contributing factors, including mass immigration and the failure of progressive reforms to remedy economic inequality." For more details on this Conference, visit their website at camdenconference.org.