La Suiza de América: Direct democracy, anti-presidentialism, and constitutional entrenchment in Uruguay’s Constitution of 1918

Abstract

Abstract In Latin America, the drafters of early nineteenth-century constitutions were skeptical of implementing republican forms of government. At the turn of the twentieth century, Uruguay became an exception by bucking this legacy. Under the Swiss-educated reformist José Batlle y Ordóñez (1856–1929), the groundwork was laid for a new constitution that would bring about a secular democratic republic. Indeed, the 1918 Constitution replaced a conservative and centralist constitutional system with a plural executive and a regime of participatory democracy. This article advances a new interpretation of Batllista Uruguay’s distinctive institutions and argues that, despite the 1918 Constitution’s brief endurance, Uruguay’s distinctly republican form of democracy has proven to be an effective mechanism for constitutional entrenchment by virtue of its having helped to create popular support for the rule of law and institutional stability.