Heine Discusses the Redrafting of Chile’s Constitution
Ambassador Jorge Heine, Research Professor at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, was featured in the Latin America Advisor, a publication of the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington D.C. think tank.
Heine responded to the publication’s feature Q&A, which asked about a recent referendum in Chile in which 78% of voters called for the rewriting of the country’s constitution. Specifically, the piece questions how Chile’s current constitution responsible for the nation’s economic progress, how transparent the redrafting process will be, and if the vote will put an end to the country’s social protests.
In his response, Heine calls Chile’s 1980 constitution “an obsolete and anachronistic document that needs to be replaced.” He sites a greater balance between the executive and legislative branches a must for the new constitution and decried the country’s Constitutional Court. He speculated that the redrafting process will be orderly and transparent.
An excerpt:
Anti-democratic features such as super-majorities required to enact legislation in a variety of issue areas, need to be done away with. Chile’s economic progress over the past 30 years has nothing to do with the current constitution—in fact, much of this period was spent in attempts to reform the most retrograde features it once had, such as senators appointed by the armed forces. This is an obsolete and anachronistic document that needs to be replaced.
The full piece can be read on the Inter-American Diologue‘s website.
Ambassador Jorge Heine is a Research Professor at the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University. He has served as ambassador of Chile to China (2014-2017), to India (2003-2007) and to South Africa (1994-1999), and as a Cabinet Minister in the Chilean Government. Read more on him here.