Latin American democracies face three challenges to improve their democratic exercise of power: (1) creating new forms of political participation to counter a crisis in representation; (2) reinforcing the structure of the State as a republic with independent branches of government with mutual oversight and mechanisms for accountability; and (3) modernizing the State to increase its effectiveness and its real political power within the framework of checks and balances. Progress on these three fronts and effective public policies in three critical areas (fiscal reform, social exclusion and citizen security) are essential to the sustainability of democracy in the region. Yet these issues are not being sufficiently discussed in Latin America.