Pending tasks for a Latin American popular constitutionalism

Abstract

This paper begins with a hypothesis: there is considerable distance between thought and constitutional reality in Latin America. While in our countries varying degrees of populist leaderships are consolidated, much of the reflections of the "neoconstitutionalism" revolve around rights and ways to implement them effectively through the courts. There are two alternatives –populisms and judiciary technocracies– that relegate citizens to a secondary role and are, therefore, very unattractive. Some authors have sought another path inspired by the so-called popular constitutionalism developed in recent years by academics from the United States. These theories seek to rescue the role of "the people" in the collective self-government. This work suggests that this path is possible but is fraught with difficulties. Going that way requires understanding of the core theory of popular and democratic constitutionalism and releases it from its more provincial aspects. In this regard, there are a number of tasks that need to be addressed before using the theories of popular constitutionalism in an effective way to explain our own realities and contexts.