ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the creation of the 1991 Constitution through the lens of the critical juncture framework. I put forward the argument that the 1991 Constitution, in contrast to the Rafael Reyes reforms (1905–1910) and the National Front reforms (1953–1957), is traceable to a profound normative and discursive cleavage in the preceding conditions. The process of installing the constituent assembly followed a novel path of citizen mobilization that sidelined traditional patronage forms of political interaction. The procedures of deliberation and negotiations were mostly public and included citizen input. The resultant institutional framework was therefore not coincidentally a rights-based constitution. Its creation had a distinctly communicative origin and the constraints placed upon the constituent processes differed between the first two cases and the last case, and as a consequence, the resulting institutional framework also differed. Therefore, it is perfectly sensible to infer that the 1991 Constitution amounted to a critical juncture.
