Questioning Democracy in the Name of the People: The so-called “New Latin American Constitutionalism”
Questioning Democracy in the Name of the People: The so-called “New Latin American Constitutionalism”

Summary/Abstract: Throughout the last decade, an academic approach has become increasingly vocal, stating that, notwithstanding the many differences between the constitutional texts that have been adopted in several Latin American countries as a result of the successive victories of populist candidates like Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, Rafael Correa in Ecuador and Evo Morales in Bolivia, some shared concerns and some common features can be identified, revealing the existence of a “New Latin American Constitutionalism", the ultimate goal of which would be to provide for these countries a valid replacement of the old fashioned European liberal traditions by new political systems, more suited to the realities, the problems and the expectations of Latin American peoples. In this paper, I will try (1) to make a presentation of the political climate in which these constitution-making processes were carried out; (2) to provide an enumeration of the basic features that have given consistency to the idea that there is a new constitutionalist stream emerging in this part of the world; and (3) to debate about how new, and how detached from the well-established European tradition this "new Latin American constitutionalism" is, and how efficient the solutions proposed have been in order to improve the political stability of Latin American states and enlarging the scope of rights and liberties enjoyed by their citizens.

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