Instability has been a chief feature of political regimes in Peru since the country's independence in the 1820s. Civilian governments have been the exception; military coups have been frequent; and various reformist and leftist parties have usually been repressed, harassed, and otherwise prevented from participating freely in the political system. During the 1980s, however, there were indications that this pattern has been interrupted, if not broken. Three presidential elections and four municipal elections occurred during this decade. The elections conformed to constitutional prescriptions, and they resulted in two peaceful transfers of government executive power – in 1985 and again in 1990 – to opponents of the sitting government, something that had happened only once during the preceding sixty years, in 1945. Thus the pattern of Peruvian politics during the past decade suggested an important shift to procedural democracy. It would be rash, however, to infer from these developments that Peru has undergone a process of democratic consolidation. The regime continues to be attacked by a powerful insurgent force – the Sendero luminoso or “Shining Path” movement – the economy is in tatters; social and economic inequalities are extreme; and the fragmentation of political alignments is pronounced, as evidenced by the overnight emergence and victory of the previously unknown Alberto Fujimori in the 1990 presidential election.

Peru during the 1980s is thus best thought of as an unconsolidated democracy: The regime was functioning according to democratic procedures, with freely contested elections based on universal suffrage, relatively unrestricted mass media, and serious attempts to protect civil liberties, but there were many indications that it lacked stability.