Juan Ignacio Arboleda

My dissertation, titled “Raise Your Hand: Constitutional Fever and Participatory Democracy in Brazil and Colombia at the End of the Cold War,” explores what occurred outside the halls of two National Constituent Assemblies: in the streets, in informal discussions, and in public meetings. By examining thousands of proposals submitted to the National Assemblies in Brasilia and Bogotá—by individuals, student groups, peasant associations, women’s organizations, indigenous and ethnic communities, labor unions, professional associations, and environmental and human rights advocates—I show how ordinary people redefined democracy, social justice, and the role of the State.

In both Brazil and Colombia, people participated in the constitution-writing process to not only try to reshape political institutions but to also transform their unequal and unjust societies. Although the constitutions that emerged from this process ultimately failed to live up to many of their promises, I contend that the emphasis on popular participation in both Brazil and Colombia explains the way both countries’ new constitutions not only created blueprints for governance but also expressed collective aspirations. Thus, my research challenges the notion that the re-democratization process in Latin America amounted only to a “neo-liberalism” primarily conducted and controlled by elites.