About the Journal

This collection brings together the proceedings and academic contributions of the IV International Congress of Inter-American Students "Error 404: Democracy Not Found? Political Reconfigurations in the Americas" (2025).
Through three main thematic axes - narratives of de-democratization, media and political polarization, and transnational migrations - established and emerging researchers examine how these phenomena are intertwined with new technologies, artificial intelligence and decolonial perspectives. The fundamental aim is to provide a space for transnational and intergenerational dialogue on contemporary democratic challenges, seeking to build bridges between different epistemologies and to develop urgent methodologies that respond to the complexity of our times.
The congress was organised by students of the Master in Inter-American Studies: María Paulina Arnal and Sebastian Daniel Peñaranda Portugal, with the institutional support of the Inter-American Studies Student Association. It is supported by the MA in Inter-American Studies of the Faculty of Literature and Linguistics of the University of Bielefeld, the Centre for Accessibility (ZAB), the Centre for Inter-American Studies (CIAS) and the International Student Council (ISR). This collection represents the continuation of a sustained effort on the part of students in the Master's programme in InterAmerican Studies at Bielefeld University. It is also the fourth edition of an initiative that has grown and consolidated itself as a reference space for academic dialogue. Previous editions have allowed the creation of a transnational community of young researchers committed to the critical analysis of the socio-political realities of the Americas. The proceedings are published in an open access format under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence, reflecting the commitment of the Congress to the democratization of knowledge and openness.