Impeachment presidenziale in America Latina: una forma di responsabilizzazione dell’Esecutivo o un golpe istituzionalizzato?

Abstract

Abstract: Presidential impeachment in Latin America: a way to make the executives responsible or an institutionalized coup? –In this essay I intend to study how presidential impeachment has been employed in Latin America since the 1990s. I will try to assess whether it has been used to remove democratically-elected Presidents for political reasons (much like in parliamentary systems, unlike what the Constitution of the United States provides for), and whether this can be seen as a sort of “parliamentary coup”. In order to do this, I will compare the constitutional provisions in various countries, and in particular I will focus on the controversial impeachments of Presidents Collor and Rousseff in Brazil and of President Lugo in Paraguay. 

Keywords: Presidential impeachment; Latin American presidentialism; Constitution of Brazil;
Constitution of Paraguay; Presidential system of government.