A former government minister in St Kitts and Nevis says the huge sums of money in politics is undermining democracy in Antigua and Barbuda and other small island states.

Only two countries in Latin America—Costa Rica and Uruguay—can be considered “full democracies,”

In Latin America, support and esteem for democracy have fallen to a historic low. The trend is most pronounced in Brazil, where President Dilma Rousseff was removed from office last week.

Both globally and in the Latin American region we are witnessing a sea change, accompanied by opportunities but also by new challenges and threats for the quality of democracy.

With the exception of Fidel Castro's Cuba, the Western Hemisphere is now exclusively ruled by democratically elected leaders.

DURING the multitudinous demonstration against Brazil’s president, Dilma Rousseff, in São Paulo on March 15th, a lunatic fringe chanted for a return to military rule. That was sad more than worrying. The rightists were shouted down. Their isolation served to underline how routine democracy has become in many Latin American countries in the third of a century or so since the generals returned to barracks.

Thousands of middle-class Brazilians drowned her out by banging pots and pans, a traditional way to show dissent in neighbouring countries.

However, the same studies reveal an increase in informal youth movements promoting democratic changes in many countries, interconnected and mobilized in non-traditional ways, especially via social networks

Antigua and Barbuda’s political rights rating improved from 3 to 2 due to a decline in corrupt foreign business influence over the government.