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I understand what Fisher is trying to say here, but I think the "Latin Americanization" framework that pops up from time to time is more likely to unhelpful than the helpful: it seems to posit a decline in good US institutions and a slide to banana republic-hood but...
...I think this is an illusion created by a faulty reading of the effectiveness of US institutions, as if vigilanteism, corruption, racist violence, and social exclusion were not the norm. You don& #39;t need to "import them"
In fact, if you are the United States, you exported them, which is why I have argued against trying to apply the "banana republic" label to the U.S.: what political scientists see as poorly functioning institutions are usually functional for someone!
Rather than "Latin Americanization" I do think it might be useful to sometimes think about problems that are common to the Americas, rooted in shared aspects of our histories
Something like 47 of the 50 most violent cities in the world outside of war zones are in the Americas, including the United States. That& #39;s a shared problem. Most countries of the Americas have unusually high levels of inequality. That& #39;s a shared problem.
Many of the countries of the Americas have experienced, at one time or another, baldly criminal political leadership. That& #39;s a shared problem. It& #39;s also one where efforts at ending impunity, however difficult, have been undertaken by many countries in Latin America
So if we are talking about the "Latin Americanization" of the U.S. and what we mean is holding state officials responsible for crimes the commit in office I guess I will allow it. Otherwise, I think, some humility is called for
