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Constituent and Constituted Power: Reading Social Transformation in Latin America

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Popular Sovereignty and Constituent Power in Latin America

Abstract

In this chapter, the author first lays down the historical Latin American context in which the concept of constituent and constituted power developed. Based on the work of Antonio Negri, he then illustrates the general ideas around the concept and discusses the concept of popular power, which in Latin America is closely linked to constituent power. The author shows why it is not appropriate to speak of dual power. Finally, through the concrete example of Venezuela, he demonstrates how these theoretical approaches play out in practice and highlights the contradictions that arise.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Common Latin American term for the 1980s, during which neoliberal structural readjustments and austerity forced by IMF and World Bank destroyed a good part of the continent’s productive base and increased inequality.

  2. 2.

    See Ciccariello-Maher (2013b) for a critique of Castañeda’s argument from a point of view very similar to mine.

  3. 3.

    Very similar forms and contents can be observed in the contemporary global protest movements since 2008, from Occupy in the USA to the 15-M in Spain or the protests in Greece, which therefore are characterized as second wave of anti-representational protest (Sitrin and Azzellini 2014).

  4. 4.

    It is absent even in most current scholarly analyses on Venezuela. Exceptions are Vargas-Arenas (2007: 287–295), who applies the concept to the Venezuelan process with references to Negri and Italian operaismo, Ciccariello-Maher (2007, 2013a, b) and Azzellini (2007, 2010a, b, 2013, 2015a).

  5. 5.

    Author’s interview, August 23, 2006, Caracas.

  6. 6.

    Ministerio del Poder Popular para las Comunas y los Movimientos Sociales (Retrieved from July 4, 2015: http://consulta.mpcomunas.gob.ve/).

  7. 7.

    Ministerio del Poder Popular para las Comunas y los Movimientos Sociales (Retrieved July 4, 2015: http://consulta.mpcomunas.gob.ve/).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Johannes Kepler University, Linz, Austria

    Dario Azzellini

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  1. Dario Azzellini
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, USA

    Emelio Betances

  2. Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Puebla, Mexico

    Carlos Figueroa Ibarra

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Azzellini, D. (2016). Constituent and Constituted Power: Reading Social Transformation in Latin America. In: Betances, E., Figueroa Ibarra, C. (eds) Popular Sovereignty and Constituent Power in Latin America. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54825-2_2

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