Vol. 20 No. 1 (2026): Derecho en Sociedad
ARTICLES

Whistleblowing under Democratic Erosion: Civic Agency, Risk, and Legitimacy in Latin America

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  • David Gamboa Solano
DOI: https://doi.org/10.63058/des.v20i1.360

Published 2026-03-26

Keywords

  • Whistleblowing,
  • democratic erosion,
  • civic agency,
  • Latin America,
  • legitimacy,
  • corruption,
  • institutional fragility
    • ...More
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How to Cite

Gamboa Solano, D. (2026). Whistleblowing under Democratic Erosion: Civic Agency, Risk, and Legitimacy in Latin America. Derecho En Sociedad, 20(1), p. 101–130. https://doi.org/10.63058/des.v20i1.360

Copyright (c) 2026 Derecho en Sociedad

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Abstract

This article analyzes testimonies from seven whistleblowers in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, collected within the Alertas! project coordinated by the Observatorio Político de América Latina y del Caribe (OPALC, Sciences Po) in collaboration with Transparencia por Colombia. Through a comparative qualitative approach, it examines how individuals from diverse professional and social backgrounds assume the role of whistleblower in contexts marked by corruption, institutional fragility, and democratic erosion. The study explores how regime type and varying degrees of democratic deterioration shape methods of denunciation, access to information, and the severity of reprisals, and analyzes how whistleblowers construct and communicate legitimacy under conditions of mistrust, censorship, or political violence. The findings demonstrate that while formal institutional outcomes remain limited, whistleblowing in Latin America functions as a form of civic agency and democratic resilience, preserving public truth, challenging official narratives, and sustaining moral boundaries even when formal accountability mechanisms fail.

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