Recall, Political Representation and Citizen Participation: Reflections Based on the Latin American Experience

Abstract

This chapter aims at analyzing the relationship between recall procedures and democratic representation and participation. Based on the Latin American experience and on recent findings in political theory, I propose to understand recall as an instrument against the grain of contemporary transformations of democracy. The first part of the chapter discusses the potential improvement of democratic accountability through recall procedures by strengthening political actors? incentives to keep their campaign promises, within the context of what I call "post-promissory representation". The second part examines the capacity of recalls to institutionalize the expression of refusal towards decisions or actions of representatives, in a context of increasingly negative and spontaneous citizen participation. Finally, this chapter recommends enhancing deliberation and communication between representatives and citizens, which appears as a form of responsiveness more adapted to contemporary democracies than the recall seems to be.