“Chile is an example of hope for Latin America and the rest of the world and can be like Scandinavia.” That’s the diagnosis made by American Professor Bruce Ackerman of Yale University, considered one of the world’s leading experts in constitutionalism.
In an interview with BBC Mundo, the author of books such as Revolutionary Constitutions addresses the constituent process in Chile and the elections of this 15 and 16 May, where Chileans will define for the first time the members who will form the Constitutional Convention, the entity responsible for drafting a new Constitution, which will replace the one inherited from the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. “Having popularly elected members who focus only on these issues is a great innovation. Rarely in history has this separation been given,” the academic says.
“In a convulsive climate in Latin America, exacerbated by the pandemic and Colombia as the most current example, what happens in Chile is seen as a possible example of how to address social claims with a democratic process that renews the state,” the BBC says.
And for Ackerman, “this is a rare opportunity to focus on reforming the foundations of a state.” “Chile should debate the presidential model in Constituent and show Latin America that the mparian would work better against populism,” he says.
In this context, the prestigious academic argues that “Chile is an example of hope for Latin America and the rest of the world and can be like Scandinavia. Chile has the same population as Denmark, Norway and Sweden, which have led Europe in the 20th century for its social democracy,” he stresses.
Read the original BBC interview here
