This presentation focuses on the study of both legal provisions and practices of the
recall referendum on the local level in the Andean countries. This type of referendum
is defined as a bottom up mechanism of direct democracy (from here on MDDs),
activated by the collection of signatures and aimed at removing an elected authority
from office through a vote.
With Peru in a prominent position, this device has become one of the most intensively
used mechanisms of participation in South America. However, it has been practically
ignored by scholars until very recent times. This lack of interest could be explained
by the following:
- Two movements dominate the promotion of citizen's participation in Latin
America; one from the top, from national governments, in what has been
identified as the constitutionalization of participation (Colombia 1991 or
Venezuela 1999 as examples) and the other from the bottom, from the
municipalities (Porto Alegre or Montevideo as well known examples driven by
successful leftist parties since the late eighties). Accordingly, studies on direct
democracy have mostly focussed on the national level (Welp and Serdült
2009; Lissidini et al 2008), while studies of the wider range of deliberative
institutions have focussed in particular on the local level (Robin and Ford 2013,
Goldfrank 2011, Annunziata 2011, Veneziano 2005). This division positions the
recall referendum as a marginal institution within both.
- The previous is reinforced by the focus of MDD research on direct intervention
of citizens in policy making or in populist uses of top down referenda. In
contrast, the recall referendum is oriented to remove representatives2
.
- Lastly, studies of participatory democracy give prominence to deliberation and
consensus, while the recall referendum promotes binary decisions as well as
polarization, and is expressed through traditional electoral participation.