Supported by:

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sergio Verdugo

Sergio Verdugo is an Associate Professor of Law at Universidad del Desarrollo (UDD), Chile. He teaches Constitutional Law and Comparative Law and is a researcher of the Centro de Justicia Constitucional of UDD. He is the Deputy Secretary-General of the International Society of Public Law (ICON-S) and an associate editor of the International Journal of Constitutional Law (ICON).

POSTS BY Sergio Verdugo

02 December 2019

Between Constitutional Romance and Real-World Politics

The Chilean process for a new constitution is a reminder that constitutional processes are not necessarily ideal scenarios of high deliberation, but processes that can include risks, self-interested politicians, the threat of violence, and competing views that try to defeat each other. In Chile, the romantic notion of constitution-building as a sort of new beginning quickly faced the challenges of real-world politics in a situation of institutional fragility. Continue reading >>

0

04 November 2019

The Chilean Political Crisis and Constitutions as Magic Bullets

Chile is currently experiencing the most severe crisis since the dictatorship. One of the proposals to solve this crisis is to replace the current Constitution. Proponents of a constitutional replacement should consider two caveats: First, the constitution-making process should not weaken the representative institutions but strengthen them, and second, the promises need to be realistic as Constitutions are not magic bullets capable of instantaneously responding to social demands. Continue reading >>

1