Politics in Ecuador: Its challenges and the unobtainable democratic consolidation

Democratic consolidation is used to describe a country's stability and democratic strength. Nevertheless, before we start the study of democratic consolidation we must have a clear conceptualization of democracy. Once democracy has been clearly defined and reasons have been given as to why it is considered by many as the best political system, I will situate my country of study under a specific political regime to further examine its behavioral and attitudinal foundations. Democratic consolidation is a process that does not happen overnight and in order for a right assessment to be made, there needs to be a more in depth study of the pillars of democratic consolidation. Using Andreas Schedler's work, I will emphasize: behavioral and attitudinal support from political leaders and the masses as well as the power of the political institutions. The Third Wave of Democracy is a concept that can be applied to countries in Latin America when the military regimes that kept them subjugated for many years ended and an attempt to transition towards democracy started to occur. The following research is going to help determine whether or not the smallest country in the Andean Region, Ecuador, can be considered to have a strong foundation to make democracy 'the only game in town' or if at the smallest instance of trouble the efforts "made" by previous administrations will crumble to pieces and political unrest will take over.