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This article addresses the old question, What is democracy? in light of developments in Latin American thought, and analyzes political trends in the Andean region during recent years from the perspective of democracy. It argues that electoral democracy is seen as an indispensable minimum of democracy. But emphasis is also placed on three additional requisites that have been proposed as necessary conditions for an electoral democracy to become a full democracy: a democratic form of governing, a democratic form of changing the constitution, and a state with the power to protect civil and social rights. The forging of consensus about this more complete vision of democracy is an important challenge of Latin American thought on democracy.