ABSTRACT
Celebrating the results of an April 2007 referendum to convene a constitutional assembly, Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa proudly proclaimed, “Fear has been left behind. The future was at stake, the country was at stake, and Ecuadorans have said yes to that future.” With support running at over 70%, Correa believed he had a mandate to instill his populist goals in a new constitution, and to overhaul an unsympathetic congress and judiciary that had fallen from public favor. And few could argue that Ecuadorian democracy was trouble-free. Congress had used suspect measures to remove three presidents in the past decade, and mounting social protests attested to the growing gulf between government and the populace. But others saw ulterior motives. Former President Osvaldo Hurtado (1981-1984) rebutted, “It’s not a project for a better democracy. It’s a project to accumulate power. All dictators always have had constitutions made to fit them.”1
