Introduction

Impeachments have become relatively common in Latin America but have also remained controversial. The introductory chapter of this book discusses some reasons and implications behind this growing (un)popularity, such as its consequences for the future of democracy, as well as for theories of systems of government. It also presents some of the many gaps and unanswered questions the field has to offer and how to go about addressing them. In essence, this book sets out to fill a literature gap identified by the author, consisting in juridical analyses of multiple impeachment cases that took place in Latin America in the past 30 years, as until now such analyses had remained a monopoly of journalistic accounts and political science studies. The book also aims to demystify impeachments, analysing their nature, their function, and the perception its key actors, citizens, and legal communities have of it.