The Inter-American regime of citizenship: bridging the institutional gap between democracy and human rights.

Recent years have brought about a strengthening of inter-American co-operation in the areas of both human rights and democracy. Up to now, however, little attention has been devoted to the manner by which these two components of the inter-American system are connected. The central argument of our article is that the concept of a citizenship regime provides an essential vehicle for bridging this gap. This notion makes it possible to recognise hemispheric changes regarding human rights and democracy as two sides of the same dynamic: the building of a more integrated inter-American community. Anchored in a historical approach, the first part of the article explains how the OAS has been able to transform many of the features within the state-citizen relationship throughout the Americas. The second part goes on to demonstrate how the consolidation of the inter-American citizenship regime remains fragile and incomplete, confronted by major challenges of both a domestic and an international nature. What we are seeing is a thin form of citizenship but one that helps reshape our understanding of the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]