Text, Media, and Constituent Power: Latin America from Ancient to Modern Times

Ambitious and complex constitutional and political reform projects have swept Latin America in the past decade. Aimed at building more democratic and inclusive states, these reforms have been undertaken in the historically unprecedented context of rapid advances in global communications. New media have changed how text is used to coordinate collective action, placing new stresses on republican institutions that never managed to fully include indigenous peoples as citizens. Building new patterns of democratic responsiveness and accountability, particularly in the context of new technologies of communication, requires knowledge and judgement rooted in an ancient source of wisdom. The exercise of what Aristotle called "practical wisdom"-the ability to apply general rules in particular circumstances in order to do what is right for one's self and community in concrete situations-is essential to the achievement of constitutional orders that might provide a legal framework within which diverse societies can flourish.