RELASP No. 11 Call for Papers
Dossier
The emergence of democracies from below: Citizenship and political representation in Latin America
Coordinators:
Dr. José Luis Estrada Rodríguez
Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla
Correo: jluis.estrada@correo.buap.mx
Dra. Angélica Mendieta Ramírez
Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla
Correo: angélicamendietaramirez@gmail.com
Dr. Mauricio Andrés Álvarez Moreno
Universidad de Medellín, Colombia
Correo: maualvarez@udemedellin.edu.co
Latin America was built on the conquest of its indigenous peoples. The Spanish and Portuguese conquests developed a system of control and subjugation of political institutions in the dominated countries within the historical context. Later, military dictatorships used the weakness of nation-states as a justification to impose rigid political systems of oligarchic representation. In Chile, General Augusto Pinochet ruled from 1970 to 1990 after a coup d'état against Salvador Allende. In Peru, the Fujimori regime developed from 1990 to 2000 under Alberto Fujimori, who promoted a military dictatorship with strict censorship of freedom of expression.
Other dictatorial governments developed from strong political parties, state parties that helped eliminate all political dissent, as in Mexico. Therefore, the path to democracy required the rise of leftist governments, known as the "Pink Tide," in the first decade of the 21st century in Latin America. The leftist parties that came to power at that time were grouped in the São Paulo Forum; but they also faced strong resistance to their vision against neoliberalism and the capitalist system.
Subsequently, populist governments emerged, undermining political institutions, representation, and the development of free expression of ideas. Polarization, as a sociopolitical phenomenon, undermines democracy and contributes to the dismantling of political systems and their representative institutions. Therefore, citizens have emerged in recent years as protagonists of direct democracy, promoting social, political, and ideological movements that drive change in Latin America.
Based on the above, the Euro-Latin American Journal of Social and Political Studies (RELASP) presents its dossier: The Emergence of Democracies from Below: Citizenship and Political Representation in Latin America, with a multidisciplinary perspective and calls for reflection, research, and analysis of Latin American cases.
Topics to be covered:
- Social movements in Latin America
- Citizenship and political representation
- Democracy and new forms of government
- Populism and its consequences
- Media and political culture
Submission deadline: November 15, 2025. All texts should be sent to jluis.estrada@correo.buap.mx.
