Abstract

DURAN-SMELA, Diana. BETWEEN REPUBLICANISM AND POLITICAL CONSTITUTIONALISM. HOW DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION CAN BE PROMOTED IN BUILDING COMMON GOOD PUBLIC AND CONSTITUCIONAL POLICY?. Vniversitas [online]. 2011, n.123, pp.169-201. ISSN 0041-9060.

This article is the result of the first year of doctorate studies of the author at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá-Colombia. It is a revision and investigation of republicanism and political constitutionalism theories, which seeks to recover the institutional legitimacy through active political participation by citizens. Republicanism and popular constitutionalism allow to highlight the leading role that should be permanent to the citizen as a creator of this track to achieve the common good. Democracy seems to oppose liberalism and the latter focuses on the protection of individual rights. Meanwhile, republicanism assumes that man seeks to build a public sphere of himself in which to develop a better collective life. Popular constitutionalism, in turn, also has as central theme: the idea that the government belongs to the people, with this competition over their representatives and the judiciary. These schools of thought are united on the premise that the collective issues are to be solved collectively and in a direction "bottom-up". Democracy ceases to be merely procedural aspiration to become a stage with a predetermined agenda: to achieve the common good for all. Citizen participation mechanisms also become indispensable tools for republicanism.

Keywords : Republicanism; Popular Constitutionalism; Democracy; Citizen; Civic Virtue; Liberalism; Individual Rights; Participation; Deliberation.

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