La medición y la evolución de la democracia en América Central

This article is aimed at analyzing the evolution of democracy in Central America from 1945 to 2000. The objective of this exercise is not to propose a new theory of democratization but rather to learn more about complex historical process. In Central American countries, democratization occurred in a hasty and belated way as well as in a progressive and abrupt fashion. The Bowman, Lehoucq et Mahoney database is a useful instrument to understand this evolution. In the first section of this article the author comments on the methodology used by the three scholars. In its subsequent section, this article analyzes the evolution of democracy using the database as well as data compiled by the author. In this section, several observations are made in order to contextualize the evolution of democracy witnessed in the region. The data collected by the author on Panama influenced the categorization of the latter country in three phases: non-democratic, semi-democratic and democratic