Revisiting Bolivia’s Constituent Assembly: Lessons on the Quality of Democracy.

In Latin America, a region where constitutions are rewritten with unhealthy regularity, the Bolivian 2006-2008 Constituent Assembly should have been just another case with limited impact. The Bolivian experience, however, became an extraordinary example of democracy at work in a heterogeneous nation that still struggles to embrace its indigenous roots. The process itself, problematic and even violent at times, showed how pragmatic considerations and short-term political objectives were favoured over painstaking institution-building efforts grounded on democratic values. Moreover, Bolivia’s Constituent Assembly became an institutional arena where liberal notions of democracy contrasted with radical ones. In the end, Bolivians received a highly progressive new Constitution, despite the many shortcomings related to this process. Using a democratic theory framework, this article revisits this historical process and concludes that its effects on the quality of democracy in this country were mixed. While there was a degree of responsiveness from the Bolivian state to a pending social demand and meaningful social participation, there was little accountability on the part of the institutions entrusted with this task; hence, the sovereignty of this transient body was compromised from the onset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]