ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on how to define the critical constitutionalism and it explores the Latin American neo-constitutionalism as the critical constitutionalism. The author define today's critical constitutionalism as that which pursues the deconstruction of the philosophy, the state apparatuses and the symbolic representations of the neoliberal capitalist model. Informal mechanisms of citizen-state confrontation refer to means of participation and social control that are exercised collectively, in a circumstantial and spontaneous fashion, outside formal organizational structures. Negative power is a direct or indirect means for the people to exercise sovereignty, consisting in the capacity to impede, totally or partially, the creation and application of law by a political body of the sate in violation of people's rights. The constitutional texts described in the chapter have established the legal and political bases to initiate this process of transformation. Its development now depends on the willingness and capacities of the political leaders and citizens of these countries.
