Chile’s New Constitutional System / El nuevo sistema constitucional en Chile

Chile’s New Constitutional System: Presidential, Semi-Presidential, or Parliamentary?

Timezone: CLT

Language: This event is virtual and will be held in Spanish with simultaneous English interpretation.

The choice of system of government is of fundamental importance when rewriting a Constitution. Like the rest of Latin America, Chile has a long tradition of presidentialism, and its 1980 Constitution created a powerful presidency. However, there is mounting evidence that “hyper-presidentialism” can destabilize democracies. In Chile today there is a near-consensus on the need to move away from hyper-presidentialism, but much disagreement about what should replace it. Should Chileans move toward attenuated presidentialism? Or should they consider a semi-presidential or parliamentary constitution?

Welcoming Remarks: Steven Levitsky, Director, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies; Professor of Government, Harvard University; Co-author, How Democracies Die

Keynote Speaker: John Carey, Associate Dean of Faculty for the Social Sciences; Wentworth Professor in the Social Sciences, Dartmouth College

Panelists: Pamela Figueroa, Academic, Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Santiago de Chile; Academic Coordinator of the New Constitution Observatory; Valeria Palanza, Associate Professor of Politics; Deputy Director of the Institute of Political Science, Universidad Católica de Chile; Flavio Quezada, Professor of Administrative Law, Universidad de Valparaíso; Lucas Sierra, Associate Professor, School of Law, Universidad de Chile; Ignacio Walker, Senior Research Fellow, CIEPLAN (Center for Latin American Studies, Santiago)

Moderated by: Claudio Fuentes, Professor, Political Science, Universidad Diego Portales; Constitutional Laboratory Coordinator; Universidad Diego Portales; DRCLAS Luksic Visiting Scholar 2012-11

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Organized By: harvard drclas