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Academic Forum for the New Constitution in Chile

The Forum brings scholars, practitioners, and opinion leaders for high-caliber academic debate as Chile seeks to build a more inclusive, participatory, and responsive system. 

Chile’s constitutional process is being closely watched across the world. Not only does reform offer a path out of the profound legitimacy crisis threatening Chilean democracy, but it offers Chileans an opportunity to build a more inclusive, participatory, and responsive democratic system. As such, the repercussions of Chile’s constitutional process will likely extend past its borders, to the region and beyond. Thanks to strong State institutions and an effective rule of law, any innovations produced by Chile’s Constitutional reform will likely have an enduring influence in the country’s legal and political foundations.

OUTCOMES

The Academic Forum for the New Constitution in Chile videos recorded more than 8,000 views, 2,200+ webinar participants and attracted virtual attendees from 49 countries. The forum became an analytical tool to discuss in-depth the most pressing topics throughout the constitutional process. We invite you to visit this link to learn more about the key takeaways from this important series that ran from December 2020 to February 2024.

 

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Through the constitutional drafting process – and beyond – DRCLAS will provide a platform for open and high-caliber debate on critical issues facing Chileans as they rethink and redesign their constitution. This platform will develop through webinars, colloquia, substantive contributions to the constitutional discussions and, in general, a process of academic companionship to the fundamental institutions, rights and obligations debate. As the Foro strives to make a contribution to reaching consensuses, it will not shy away from hosting representatives from different points of view and political visions.

Aimed at an audience not only domestic but extending beyond Chile to include at least the rest of Latin America and the United States, the Foro will bring together scholars, practitioners, and opinion leaders from across the political spectrum — and across the world – to debate issues such as social rights and the future of Chile’s famed economic model, how to restore legitimacy to a political system that has lost public trust, the promise and limitations of a “green and sustainable” constitution, the potential role of direct and participatory democratic institutions, and how to improve democratic representation, especially of women, indigenous communities, and other historically under-represented minorities.

Webinars

Why Chile's Constitutional Reform Failed - Twice

Thuesday, February 6, 2024, 12:00 pm -1:20 pm ET 

Claudia Heiss, Patricio Navia, Marcela Ríos Tobar, Steven Levitsky.

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A new Constitution: Analyzing the Proposal Ten Days Before the Plebiscite

Thursday, December 7, 2023, 8:30 am -10:00 am ET 

Steven Levitsky, Lorena Gallardo, Carlos Frontaura,  Domingo Lovera, María Pardo, Sebastián Soto.

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NEW CONSTITUTIONAL COUNSELORS ELECTION: PROCESSING THE RESULTS AND REFLECTING ON THE WAY FORWARD

Wednesday, May 31, 2023, 9:30 am ET (9:30 Chile Time)

Steven Levitsky, Manuel Jose Cepeda, María Cristina Escudero, Gabriel Negretto, Julieta Suárez-Cao, Verónica Figueroa Huencho

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Chilean Constitutional Forum Day (First in-person event)

Thursday, October 6, 2022, 12:00 pm - 6:30 pm  ET

Claudia Bobadilla, Pablo Andrés Eguiguren, Patricio Fernández Chadwick, Claudio Fuentes, David Landau, Ximena Rincón, Cristián Rodríguez-Chiffelle, Sol Serrano, Mark Tushnet, Rodrigo Vergara, María Elisa Zavala, Steven Levitsky.

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Chile (Flag)

HOW DOES THE PROPOSAL OF CHILE'S NEW CONSTITUTION LOOK?

Wednesday, July 13, 2022, 9:30 am ET (9:30 Chile Time)

Steven Levitsky, Roberto Gargarella, David Landau, Miriam Henríquez, Alejandra Ovalle, Juan Pablo Luna.

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GREEN CONSTITUTION AND NATURAL RESOURCES

Wednesday, April 20, 2022, 12:30 pm ET / Chile Time

Forest Reinhardt, Jorge Viñuales, Dominique Hervé, Ricardo Irarrázabal, Verónica Delgado, Cristián Rodríguez-Chiffelle.

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PLURINATIONALITY AND CONSTITUTIONALISM: INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES AND LESSONS FOR CHILE

Wednesday, March 30, 2022, 06:00 pm ET (07:00 pm Chile Time)

Steven Levitsky, Sofia Cordero, Deborah J. Yashar, Salvador Millaleo, Daniel Loewe, Sol Serrano.

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PUBLIC DELIBERATION AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IN A MORE INCLUSIVE SOCIETY: CAN WE HAVE BOTH?

Thursday, December 9, 2021, 9:00 am ET (11:00 Chile Time)

Steve Levitksy, Archon Fung, Patricio Bernedo, Paula Molina, Chiara Saez, Francisco Urbina.

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Chile's New Constitutional System: Presidencial, Semi-Presidential, or Parlamentary?

Wednesday, November 10, 2021, 9:00 am EDT (10:00 am Chile)

Steve Levitsky, John Carey, Pamela Figueroa, Valeria Palanza, Flavio Quezada, Lucas Sierra, Ignacio Walker, Claudio Fuentes

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Democratic Innovations: The Role of Direct Democracy

Wednesday, October 6, 2021, 9:00 am EDT (10:00 am Chile)

Steve Levitsky, David Altman, Yanina Welp, Patricio Zapata, Claudia Heiss

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The New Constitution and the Chilean Economy: A Break with the Past?

Wednesday, June 16, 2021, 9:30 am ET / Chile Time

Steve Levitsky, Cristián Rodríguez-Chiffelle, Dani Rodrik, Claudia Sanhueza, Rodrigo Valdés, Rodrigo Vergara

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Why should you care about the Convention's regulation?

Tuesday, May 4, 2021, 6:30 pm ET / Chile Time

Javiera Ascencio de la Fuente, Rosalind Dixon, Claudia Heiss, Steven Levitsky, Gabriel Osorio, Sergio Verdugo

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Constitutional Change and Social Demands: Can the Gap be Closed?

Friday, March 19, 2021, 11:00 am ET (12:00 Chile Time)

Daniel Brinks, Rossana Castiglioni, Marisol Peña, Sebastián Soto, Yanira Zúñiga

Vew Event

Constituent Elections in Chile: How to Provide Representation during a Representation Crisis?

Friday, January 29, 2021, 10:30 am ET (12:30 Chile Time)

Isabel Aninat, Verónica Figueroa, Claudio Fuentes, Manuel Antonio Garretón, Jennifer Piscopo, Kenneth Roberts

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Launch: Academic Forum for the New Constitution in Chile

Wednesday, December 2, 2020, 3:00 pm ET

Claudia Heiss, Steven Levitsky, Juan Pablo Luna, Sebastián Soto

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Advisory Committee Members

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Organizers:

  • Steve Levitsky – Director, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS)
  • Marcela Renteria – Chile Regional Office, Executive Director, DRCLAS
  • Jimena Codina – Andes & Southern Cone Program Manager, DRCLAS

Harvard University

  • Cristián Rodríguez Chiffelle – Fmr Head of Trade and Investment Policy, World Economic Forum; Fmr Executive Director, InvestChile. DRCLAS Associate 2020-2021

Constitutional Laboratory, Universidad Diego Portales

  • Claudio Fuentes – Professor, Universidad Diego Portales; Constitutional Laboratory Coordinator, Universidad Diego Portales; DRCLAS Luksic Visiting Scholar, 2010-11

School of Government, Universidad de Chile:

  • Claudia Heiss – Professor and Head of Political Science Department of the Institute of Public Affairs (Instituto de Asuntos Públicos, INAP), Universidad de Chile
  • Verónica Figueroa – Professor of the Faculty of Government, Universidad de Chile, Former Undersecretary of Higher Education 2022-2023, DRCLAS Luksic Visiting Scholar, 2019-2020

Universidad Católica:

School of Government

  • Juan Pablo Luna – Professor, School of Government and Institute of Political Science, Universidad Católica, DRCLAS Luksic Visiting Scholar, 2012-13

School of Law

  • Sebastián Soto – Professor, Public Law Department; Director of the Public Law Department, School of Law, Universidad Católica; DRCLAS Luksic Visiting Scholar, 2013-14

Institute of Political Science, School of History, Geography and Political Science

  • Sol Serrano – National History Award 2018; History Professor, Universidad Católica; DRCLAS Luksic Visiting Scholar, 2008-09

Instituto Milenio Fundamentos de los Datos:

  • Juan Pablo Luna – Professor, School of Government and Institute of Political Science Universidad Católica, DRCLAS Luksic Visiting Scholar, 2012-13

News/Noticias

Publications

In recent months, there has been intense activity of public deliberation and information surrounding Chile's constituent process. Listed below are some of the publications and initiatives of think tanks, universities, civil society organizations, and social movements that are part of this discussion.
Publications  are mainly in Spanish 

 

Advisory Committee

 

Online Resources

Organized by

Chile Regional Office and Andes & Southern Cone Program

Chile Regional Office and Andes & Southern Cone Program

 

With the collaboration of

School of Law, Universidad Católica

School of Government, Universidad Católica

Institute of Political Science, School of History, Geography and Political Science, Universidad Católica

School of Government, Universidad de Chile

Instituto Milenio Fundamentos de los Datos

Constitutional Laboratory, Universidad Diego Portales

Harvard Chilean Student Association

Online Survey

Please indicate your degree of interest on topics that can contribute to the discussion and analysis of the constituent process period from January 2021-April 2021

Fill Out the Visitor's Survey