Plebiscitos, referendos e iniciativas populares en América Latina: ¿mecanismos de control político o políticamente controlados?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18504/pl1835-009-2010Palabras clave:
plebiscitos, referendos, iniciativas populares, democracia, control.Resumen
En este artículo se estudian y ordenan las diferentes formas con que la ciudadanía decide directamente en las urnas sobre temas de su incumbencia. La apelación directa a la ciudadanía parece cada día más de moda en la región, cuestión que muchos autores ven como la utilización de recursos institucionales por parte de las autoridades para avanzar en una determinada agenda política. Sin embargo, la democracia directa es más heterogénea de lo que estos autores conceden. Los mismos resultados de las votaciones populares son, en términos generales, más ajustados de lo que se presupondría. La evidencia muestra que cuando los movimientos de democracia directa son utilizados por los ejecutivos, en América Latina, la tasa de aprobación no supera el 55%, incluso menor a la tasa de aprobación de cuando los inicia la ciudadanía (56%). Esto no significa que, en algunas oportunidades, las autoridades no los usen como ejercicios de movilización popular o que sean una búsqueda de legitimización popular de los deseos de las elites políticas en turno.
Abstract
This study examines the different ways in which citizens decide directly at the polls on topics of their concern. The direct appeal to the citizenry seems to be increasingly popular in the region and many authors do not see in it more than the use of institutional resources by the authorities to advance a particular political agenda. However, direct democracy is a much more heterogeneous phenomenon than these authors usually grant. In fact, the results of popular votes are generally much tighter than one might assume. Surprisingly, the evidence shows that when used by government agents in Latin America, the rate acceptance does not exceed 55%, even lower than the rate of approval when they are initiated by citizens (56%). This does not mean that, on occasions, authorities use them as exercises of popular mobilization or as tools seeking popular legitimization of the desires of political elites.
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Derechos de autor 2010 Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, sede México
Esta obra está bajo una licencia internacional Creative Commons Atribución-NoComercial 4.0.
Esta obra está bajo una licencia Atribución-NoComercial 4.0 Internacional (CC BY-NC 4.0)
