Popular Participation As An Essential Element Of Democracy And Latin American Constitutionalism

Abstract

The present study investigates the correlation between popular participation in democratic environments, Latin American constitutionalism and deliberative democracy. The question at hand is: can Latin American constitutionalism be interpreted and understood in the light of deliberative democracy? The hypothesis is complying, the categories of Deliberative Democracy shape and serve the interpretation of Democracy in Latin American constitutionalism, with the important observation that, like any phenomenon, Democracy is connected with a local cultural representation, which implies its own practices and theories, but it does not, on the other hand, prevent Universalist understandings. Initially, a historical-conceptual rescue of the very notion of democracy is made, focusing on popular participation as an essential and inseparable element of this system of government. Then, some constitutional orders in Latin America are analyzed, as examples of Latin American constitutionalism, in which forms of broad popular participation are recognized, in order to finally make the connection with Habermasian deliberative democracy. This is a qualitative research, carried out using a deductive method and a bibliographic and documentary technical procedure.