Abstract

Democratic regimes have substituted repressive political regimes in Latin America. They are now confronting extremely serious problems: social inequality, financial crisis, both apparently without solution. The viability of increasing the strength of democracy is the first subject of this paper. The second subject relates to the degree of state intervention under these conditions. It argues that a reduction and a modi-fication of the state structure are taking place. The financial crisis tends to accelerate this process. These two subjects, basis and fragility of democracy and the limits of the state intervention, are analyzed in the light of the derivation theory.