Impeachment w Hispanoameryce w latach 1993 – 2015 w ujęciu komparatywnym

Sudden changes in power and unfinished terms have been a part of Latin American politics since the countries’ birth. For more than one and a half century they had been made by way of coup d’état or revolution. However, the “third wave” of democratization brought new, democratic and legal ways to remove the most important people from power. The article aims to compare specific cases of impeachment, which took the place of the coup, although the political, economic and social background differs in each case. The analysis showed that some patterns are noticeable, like removing a president after a corruption scandal or because he had not fulfilled his campaign promises or because of mass demonstrations of discontent with neoliberal reforms. Impeachment is a very welcome alternative to any use of force, but at the same time its high frequency proves that there are some faults in the political systems.