Democratic Tradition and the Failed Presidency of L ucio G utierrez in E cuador

In A pril 2005, L ucio G utiérrez was removed from office in the context of a fast‐growing economy. With no economic hardship to fuel social outrage, the failure of G utiérrez illustrates how political and institutional factors can be the most important forces determining presidential survival. In this article, we qualitatively analyse the path toward confrontation between G utiérrez and the congressional opposition which led to his political demise. We find that E cuador's weak democratic tradition working through more proximate causes – radicalism, normative preference for democratic institutions and a negative institutional equilibrium – coupled with other institutional and political variables accelerated L ucio G utiérrez's fall from power.