Title: Direct citizen participation in the constitutional reform

Authors: Patricia García Majado

Addresses: Departamento de Derecho Público, Universidad de Oviedo, Campus de El Cristo, Oviedo-33006, Spain

Abstract: This paper aims at analysing the role that direct citizen participation plays in democratic constitutional reforms. In opposition to a non-normative model, typical of those systems which conceive the people as the real sovereign, this paper argues that the direct participation of the citizenry - which can take place at the input (deliberation) or at the output (decision) of the reform process - only makes sense if understood as a legal mechanism aimed at reinforcing the own sovereignty of the legal system itself and thus democracy.

Keywords: direct citizen participation; constitutional reform; popular sovereignty; public participation; initiative for constitutional reform; constitutional referendum.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHRCS.2021.113755

International Journal of Human Rights and Constitutional Studies, 2021 Vol.8 No.1/2, pp.17 - 32

Received: 29 Apr 2020
Accepted: 12 May 2020
Published online: 22 Mar 2021 *

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