The Law As a Conversation among Equals

Roberto Gargarella is a Professor of Constitutional Law at the Universidad de Buenos Aires and a senior researcher at CONICET. He has published numerous books and articles, including, The Legal Foundations of Inequality (2010), Latin American Constitutionalism (2013); The Latin American Casebook. Courts Constitutions and Rights with J. G. Bertomeu (2016); and Constituent Assemblies with J. Elster et al (2018).

• 1. Constitutionalism and Democracy: An Institutional Problem of Structural Nature; 2. The law as Conversation among Equals; 3. 'Democratic Dissonance': Elitism Translated into Institutions; 4. A Constitution Marked by a 'Discomfort with Democracy'; 5. Motivations and Institutions: 'If Men Were Angels'; 6. The Structural Difficulties of Representation; 7. The Rise and Fall of Popular Control; 8. The Periodic Vote, or 'Electoral Extortion'; 9. Checks and Balances: Combining 'Institutional Means and Personal Motives'; 10. Presidentialism: Busting the Checks and Balances; 11. Rights: Citizenship As Repository of Rights; 12. Social Rights and the 'Engine Room'; 13. Judicial Review: 'It Seems Something of an Insult'; 14. Constitutional Interpretation: When the 'interpretative Gap' Widens; 15. Constitution Making: Speaking with One Voice in Multicultural Societies; 16. The Birth of Dialogical Constitutionalism; 17. Why We Care About Dialogue; 18. 'Democratic Erosion'; 19. Conclusion: For a Conversation among Equals.