Democratic theory, representation and participatory institutions in Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela

Abstract

The constitutions of Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela, all enacted within the last ten years, include besides traditional political representation institutions participatory mechanisms that broaden the scope for intervention on the decision making process beyond electoral mechanisms and the dispute for representative offices. In light of the theoretical debate between representative democracy and direct or participatory democracy, the aim of this work is to identify the challenges for the opening of the decision making process to deeper levels of popular participation and the dilemmas faced by the three countries for the effective implementation of those new institutions brought by their inherent complexity. Are the critics to participatory models right about the impracticability of such experiments or does the empirical evidence from the three countries point new paths for democratic theory?