The dilemma of constitutional mobilization: The housing and the environmental social movements at the Chilean Constitutional Convention

Abstract

During the last decade, processes of constitutional change in different parts of the world have taken place in response to massive mobilizations, in contexts of social and political crises. What do social movements do when they participate in a body created to formulate a new constitution? The constitutional change process of 2021–2022 in Chile provides a unique opportunity to analyze how social movements act when they actively intervene in the constitutional arena. For the first time, activists from independent social movements participated as representatives in a constitutional body and significantly influenced the content of the new proposal. The movements analyzed in this article succeeded in incorporating most demands that have been collectively developed over the past 10 years in the context of a new cycle of mobilizations in Chile into the final proposal. Yet, the proposed constitutional draft was rejected. How did they attempt to influence the constitutional debate within the convention? What were the consequences of these strategies? Based on qualitative research, which included interviews, observations during the constitutional debate in the Constitutional Convention, and document analysis, this article examines the strategies and consequences of the constitutional mobilization carried out by these movements. We argue that some of the conditions for the success of these social movements within the Convention partially explain the failure of the process.