Populism can be understood as a type of anti-constitutionalism. President of Mexico Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s understanding of democracy shows this deep aversion to liberal restraints. Even after he renounced the idea of convening a constitutional assembly as a symbol of his “Fourth Transformation,” he has had an impact on the text and the reading of the Mexican Constitution. In this talk, columnist, author, and professor Jesús J. Silva-Herzog Márquez analyzed Lopez Obrador’s idea of the constitution as a new interpretation of Mexican Official Constitutionalism. Following the presentation, Georgetown Americas Institute Director Alejandro Werner moderated a Q&A with seminar participants. John Tutino, director of the Georgetown University Americas Forum, offered an introduction.
This event was co-sponsored by Georgetown Americas Institute, the Georgetown College Americas Forum, and the Center for Advancement of the Rule of Law in the Americas.
Featuring
Jesús J. Silva-Herzog Márquez is professor at the School of Social Sciences and Government at the Tecnológico de Monterrey. He has concentrated on the study of political philosophy, particularly the history of political ideas. Silva-Herzog Márquez is a member of the Mexican Academy of Language, and has been a guest researcher at Georgetown University and the Woodrow Wilson Center. He is the author of several books, including La Idiotez de lo Perfecto and El Antiguo Régimen y la Transición en México, as well as countless essays on political theory, democracy, and citizenship. He earned a master’s degree in political science from Columbia University.
Alejandro Werner (moderator) is the founding director of the Georgetown Americas Institute and a non-resident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute. He recently completed almost nine years as director of the Western Hemisphere Department at the International Monetary Fund. Prior to that appointment, he rose to undersecretary in Mexico’s Finance Ministry and taught at leading universities in Mexico, Spain, and the United States. He earned his Ph.D. in economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1994.
John Tutino (introduction) is professor of history and international affairs and director of the Americas Forum at Georgetown. He studies the long-term history of Mexican communities in the context of global capitalism. His works include The Mexican Heartland: How Communities Made Capitalism, a Nation, and World History, 1500-2000 (2018) and the edited volume New World Cities: Challenges of Urbanization and Globalization in the Americas (2019).
