Mass Protests and Constitutional Contestation in Latin America, March 24

Carmen Ilizarbe, Claudia Hess and Maria Victoria Crespo

Over the past year, mass protests have swept across Latin America. From Chile’s El Estadillo Social (the Social Outbreak) to Argentina’s Ni Una Menos (No One [Woman] Less), these massive social movements have challenged the political and legal establishment, leading to deep political and legal reforms.

The Center for Law, Justice & Culture and the Center for International Studies are hosting three Latin American political science scholars discussing these developments on March 24 from 5 to 7 p.m.

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The panel discussion will be followed by an open dialogue.

Claudia Heiss (Photo Credits: @fotoencampana)

Panelists include Dr. Claudia Heiss (Universidad de Chile’s Institute of Public Affairs), one of the 14 drafters of the constitutional reform that is being implemented in Chile; Dr. Maria Victoria Crespo (Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Sociales y Estudios Regionales, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, and Researcher at the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, CONACYT, in México); and Dr. Carmen Ilizarbe (Department of Political Science and Government at the Pontificia Universitat Catolica in Peru). Dr. Hilla Dayan (Amsterdam University College) will moderate the discussion.

Heiss is a professor of political science at Universidad de Chile’s Institute of Public Affairs, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on democratic theory, political theory and political science. She is also the head of its political science undergraduate program, as well as an adjunct researcher at the Center for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies, COES. Heiss earned a Ph.D. in politics from the New School for Social Research, a Master of Arts from Columbia University and a degree in journalism from Universidad de Chile. She was the president of the Chilean Political Science Association between 2012 and 2014. At the end of 2019, she was one of 14 members of a technical commission that drafted the constitutional reform for the current constitution-making process. She has published the book “Why do we need a new constitution? (Aguilar 2020) as well as book chapters and articles on democracy, constitutional reform and Chilean politics.

Maria Victoria Crespo

Crespo is Professor at the Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Sociales y Estudios Regionales, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, and Researcher at the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, CONACYT, in México. She has published Del rey al presidente. Poder ejecutivo, formación del Estado y soberanía en la Hispanoamérica revolucionaria 1810-1826 (El Colegio de México, 2013, 2015) and Dictadura en América Latina. Nuevas aproximaciones teóricas y conceptuales (Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, 2017). She is editor and co-author of several books, book chapters and articles on Latin American politics and history, social theory and regional studies published in the United States, United Kingdom, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Russia and Finland.

Carmen Ilizarbe

Ilizarbe is a professor of Political Science at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Her current research interests and publications include the following: rationalities of agreement and disagreement in state-society conflicts; street protests and the rise of a counter-hegemonic public sphere; and de-democratization and counter-democracy in Latin America.

Hilla Dayan. Photo with permission from Omri R. Photography & Design.

Dayan is a political sociologist and lecturer at Amsterdam University College, teaching Global Politics, The Middle East Today, Comparative Democracy and Sociology of the Other. Her research is in the fields of political sociology, political theory and theory of democracy. Her current research includes the transformation of Zionism into Neozionism, the discourse on Antisemitism in Europe and Europe-Israel relations, Mizrahi heritage and memory politics as well as surveillance and the global authoritarian turn, diversity work and the study of first-generations in academia. Dayan is a regular contributor and commentator on Israel-Palestine and the Mizrahi struggle, and is co-founder of gate48, platform for critical Israelis in the Netherlands, and Academia for Equality, a membership organization for the democratization of Israeli academia and society.