Harvard Webinar "Democratic innovations: the role of direct democracy".
This event is part of the Academic Forum for the New Constitution in Chile, and presented during Harvard Worldwide Week 2021, will be held in Spanish with simultaneous translation into English.
The mass protests that shook Chile beginning in 2019 made it clear that levels of public alienation toward the political system had grown dangerously high. A deep rift emerged between Chilean society and the political elite, as citizens came to see the political process as elitist and disconnected from social reality. Can direct democracy mechanisms - such as referendums - help bridge this gap? As Chileans rewrite their constitution, what kind of democratic innovation could bring public policy and political decision-making closer to citizens? What are the possibilities and risks of direct democracy?
DAVID ALTMAN, Professor of Political Science, Catholic University of Chile; DRCLAS Luksic Visiting Scholar. Author: Citizenship and contemporary direct democracy
YANINA WELP, Senior Research Fellow at the Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy (Graduate Institute, Geneva); Editorial Coordinator of Agenda Pública. Co-editor: El Diablo está en los detalles (The Devil is in the details)
PATRICIO ZAPATA, Professor of Constitutional Law, Universidad Católica; M.L.L., Harvard University. Former candidate to the Constitutional Convention
WHEN & WHERE
Wednesday, October 6, 2021 at 10.00 am (Santiago de Chile)
Registration link Zoom: https://harvard.zoom.us/
In collaboration with:
Institute of Public Affairs, University of Chile
Millennium Institute Foundational Research on Data
Constitutional Laboratory, Universidad Diego Portales
School of Law, Pontificia Universidad Católica, Chile
Institute of Political Science, Faculty of History, Geography and Political Science, Pontificia Universidad Católica
Harvard Association of Chilean Students
School of Government, Pontificia Universidad Católica
Co-sponsored by:
Luksic Scholars Foundation
