Conclusions: Presidential Breakdowns Revisited

Abstract

The chapters of this volume demonstrate that Latin American presidential breakdowns have been the outcome of very complex and multifaceted processes. They are situated at the end point of a chain of events, which makes it extremely difficult to weigh which factors are decisive in the exit from power of presidents. Economic crises, coalition breakdowns, intra-government crises, scandals, policy deadlocks, and social protest have often jointly preceded the early departure of a president. Thus, borrowing from Ragin (1987, 27), presidential breakdowns seem to be caused by the combined effect of a set or a conjunction of causal factors that intersect at a particular moment in time, creating a “perfect storm” that hits a president. Table C.1 below presents an outline of the contributions to this book.

The authors wish to thank Michael E. Alvarez for reading and commenting both this chapter and the introductory chapter.