This article reviews the concepts of governance and governability in
light of the emergence of new leadership models at the turn of the century and
after the 1990s in Latin America. The article reviews the challenges of
democratisation processes in Latin America to strengthen and broaden the
exercise of human rights, in the context of the new democratic and so-called
populist leadership. After a period of foreign debt crisis, and with the emergence
of new leaders in Latin America at the turn of the millennium, a different type of
agenda is taking shape, centred on the characteristics of leadership, plebiscite
democracies, ‘decisionism’ and the search for institutional quality. These agenda
points are connected to themes such as the idea of ‘republic’ versus the idea of
‘democracy’; constitutional stability; and the notion of personal and populist
leadership as against democratic leadership. The article reviews these concepts
and highlights the meaning of the so-called neo-constitutionalism in Latin
America, both from a legal and a political perspective.
Key words: Latin America; governability; populist leaderships; republic;
democracy; constitutional stability; neo-constitutionalism
