“New” constitutionalism, old problems: democracy and authoritarianism in Latin America

“Nuevo” constitucionalismo, viejos problemas: democracia y autoritarismo en América Latina

The present work aims at analyzing two problems, which have been verified for a long time in Latin America, and the proposal for their overcoming from a specific epistemology: the lack of consolidation of democracy and authoritarianism, seen from the so-called “new” Latin constitutionalism. American From the research problem (“has the 'new' Latin American constitutionalism been able to solve the historical problems related to democracy and authoritarianism in Latin America?”), the objective is to verify how the region and its institutions have sought to maintain democratic values. Indeed, Latin America has in its history long periods of dictatorships, false democracies, oligarchic and autocratic governments, interspersed with brief periods of democracy. As theoretical references, the works of Roberto Gargarella (La sala de máquinas de La Constitución: dos siglos del constitucionalismo en América Latina (1810-2010)) and Waldo Ansaldi and Verónica Giordano (América Latina: la construcción del orden) are adopted. As a method of approach, the methodology of historical sociology is chosen, which acquires relevance to think about the processes of Latin American democracy and authoritarianism in a long-term logic, capable of demonstrating whether the political problems of the region constitute, or not, historical regularity. It is concluded that Latin American constitutionalism has not been able to overcome the historical culture of authoritarianism in the region. The absence of deeper ruptures with established power structures and the lack of true democratization of political and social processes have resulted in a fragile democracy subject to constant crises.