Abstract

RAMIREZ NARDIZ, Alfredo. Citizen participation and interpretation of the Constitution. Analysis of Colombian Constitutional Court' Jurisprudence in the field of participatory democracy. Rev. IUS [online]. 2016, vol.10, n.37, pp.171-192. ISSN 1870-2147.

Participatory Democracy is one of the pillars of the new constitutional model that was established as the Political Constitution of Colombia of 1991, a text which, in many respects, represents the starting point of what has come to be known as New Latin American Constitutionalism. This concept considers as one of its nuclear elements the promotion and increase of the direct participation of citizens in the public life in general, and in the political decision making in particular. From its first years of existence the Colombian Constitutional Court has cited and valued participatory democracy. The object of this paper is to analyze this jurisprudence and to expose what have been its main doctrinal lines from 1990s to the present. It is concluded that, from the first moment, the Constitutional Court supported participatory democracy and considered its promotion as essential for the development and consolidation of modern Colombian democracy.

Keywords : Colombia; Constitutional Court; participatory democracy; citizenship participation.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )