Thirty-five years after Stroessner: Multicracy in Paraguay

Abstract

The literature on Paraguay’s political regime labels it as an incomplete or flawed democracy without systematically analyzing how Paraguay is actually governed. The concept of multicracy can describe Paraguay’s political organization and analyze Stroessner’s rule and the post-Stronato period. The governability of Paraguay’s democracy is weak, various kratiae (powers) intervene in policymaking, and the state's regime is an unstable multicracy consisting of the presidential autocracy, the Congress partocracy, democratic institutions, plutocracy, inefficient bureaucracy, theocracy, technocracy, and still-in-power aristocracy. Further political development suggests a redistribution of power between the kratiae by changing their power percentage within a power pie.