The three cycles of the Iberoamerican constitutionalism and the use of the indigenous parameter as a controhegemonic construction in law

Abstract

Despite Latin-American constitutionalism and Western constitutionalism share common origins, the characteristics of the first one influenced on the constitutional experimentalism. Indigenous roots characterized the recent democratic reformism since they are the basis for the birth of the ‘Nuevo Constitucionalismo’ theory, differing from Western constitutional theory that is individualist and liberalistic. From a cultural and anthropological point of view, the new Latin-American constitutional theories have the purpose to build a collective, communitarian, cultural and geocentric policy. The essay aims to analyse the historical, legal, and political development of the Latin-American constitutionalism in the light of the importance, and the influence of the indigenous determinant.