This Element describes Latin American innovations in trials and truth commissions, evaluating both the Huntingtonian and Justice Cascade approaches; influential in showing variation in TJ outcomes. It argues that scholars should complement these approaches with one that recognizes the importance of state capacity building and institutional change.

What is the social structure in Latin America like today? This Element argues that although in some dimensions there are continuities, including the persistence of problems from the past, the authors believe that the Latin American social structure, viewed as a whole, experienced significant transformations.

This Element presents the first large-N cross-country study of democratic innovations to date. It also introduces a typology of twenty kinds of democratic innovations, claiming that these innovations seek to enhance democracy by addressing public problems.