America

Latin American and Caribbean countries. Although a majority of citizens prefer democratic to authoritarian rule, indicators sug-gest support for democratic institutions is progressively deteriorating. From the mid-1980s onward, the problem of governability rose to prominence, and proposals to reform the state emerged. In this context, reform refers to profound political transformations that produce new institutions, new styles of leadership, and new social rela-tions while eradicating existing ones. Conflict and con-frontation result as structures associated with vested interests were dismantled and replaced by new struc-tures that created new vested interests. Weakening states in Latin America are less and less able to deal with inter-nal discontent. The gap between the demands placed on the state and its ability to address them explains the need for reform. In some countries, citizens have concluded that they neither want the democracy they have nor have the democracy they want