Forging our democracies: between Richard Rorty and Vladimiro Montesinos

Abstract

This article aims at explaining the recent history of Peru, in an exercise in which it is possible to extract lessons about the way Latin American democracies have been(or have not been) forged. The text draws a parallel between the ideas developed by Richard Rorty in his recently published book, Forjar nuestro país. El pensamiento de izquierdas en los Estados Unidos del siglo XX, and the events in Fugimori's and Montesinos' Peru. If, according to what Rorty believes, "national pride is for the countries what self esteem is for individuals ... " how would it be possible to narrate a history in which there are few motives to be proud of? Trying to escape fatalism and sarcasm, the text tries to show that Montesino's political course is, symbolically, a summary of the decomposition process of Peruvian democracy. Secondly, the text analyses the movements of the political left wing and deals with the support the regimen received from inside and outside the country, a support that was largely based on the illusion of political stability. Finally, it states, as Rorty does, that in order to forge democracies it is necessary for us to be deeply committed to the defense of the State of Right.