TY - JOUR
T1 - Uruguay 2023: Security as a Persistent Challenge and the Decline of Non-Policy Politics as a Political Asset
AU - Fynn Marguery, Inés
AU - Pérez Bentancur, Verónica
AU - Tiscornia, Lucía
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile. All rights reserved.
PY - 2024/8/1
Y1 - 2024/8/1
N2 - This paper describes the main socio-political events that took place in Uruguay in 2023, Luis Lacalle Pou’s fourth year as president (supported by a rightist coalition). During the 2019 electoral campaign, many of Lacalle Pou’s promises were not based on a programmatic shift but on better management (non-policy politics), particularly of economic and security policies. While macroeconomic indicators show moderate performance, security indicators have not improved substantially. Dormant during the pandemic, security became a very important issue in 2023, materialized in high homicide rates and violence linked to drug trafficking and gang conflict. Much like in other Latin American countries, security has become a protracted problem that no single administration can improve. Furthermore, in 2023 there were a series of politi-cal scandals, some of which were linked to organized crime and drug-trafficking. We posit that, jointly, these facts undermine the better management capacity rhetoric. This suggests that the current administration lost the advantage of non-policy poli-tics, which could affect its electoral chances in 2024.
AB - This paper describes the main socio-political events that took place in Uruguay in 2023, Luis Lacalle Pou’s fourth year as president (supported by a rightist coalition). During the 2019 electoral campaign, many of Lacalle Pou’s promises were not based on a programmatic shift but on better management (non-policy politics), particularly of economic and security policies. While macroeconomic indicators show moderate performance, security indicators have not improved substantially. Dormant during the pandemic, security became a very important issue in 2023, materialized in high homicide rates and violence linked to drug trafficking and gang conflict. Much like in other Latin American countries, security has become a protracted problem that no single administration can improve. Furthermore, in 2023 there were a series of politi-cal scandals, some of which were linked to organized crime and drug-trafficking. We posit that, jointly, these facts undermine the better management capacity rhetoric. This suggests that the current administration lost the advantage of non-policy poli-tics, which could affect its electoral chances in 2024.
KW - corruption scandals
KW - non-policy politics
KW - organized crime
KW - security
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85210510658
U2 - 10.4067/s0718-090x2024005000108
DO - 10.4067/s0718-090x2024005000108
M3 - Artículo
SN - 0716-1417
VL - 44
SP - 441
EP - 462
JO - Revista de Ciencia Politica
JF - Revista de Ciencia Politica
IS - 2
ER -