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Symbolic-descriptive representation in the Chilean Constitutional Convention

A multi-modal argumentation analysis

ORCiD logo with link | Universidad Diego Portales
ORCiD logo with link | Universidad Diego Portales
ORCiD logo with link | Universidad Diego Portales
ORCiD logo with link | Universidad Diego Portales
Published online: 30 April 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.24024.ham
Abstract
The crisis of representation and legitimacy faced by liberal democracies makes it necessary to reflect on the transformation of their institutions, especially the constituent power as a source of legitimacy based on the principle of political representation. Taking the approaches to the concept of political representation, this article aims to analyze the discourses that took place in the Chilean Constitutional Convention (2021–2022) to understand the significance of political representation present in the constituent assembly. To this end, we studied the modes of argumentation, that were mobilized in the opening speeches of the presidents and vice presidents who led the constituent process. As the main thesis, we consider that a symbolic descriptive logic of political representation focused on the visibility and description of the excluded sectors in Chile prevailed, considering the defense of a politics of presence of particular identities and the autonomy of their demands.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The concept of political representation
    • 2.1Standing for: Symbolic-descriptive representation
  • 3.Tools of multi-modal argumentation for discourse analysis
  • 4.The Chilean popular revolt and the first constituent process
  • 5.Symbolic-descriptive representation in the Chilean Constitutional Convention
  • 6.Concluding remarks
  • Acknowledgments
  • References
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2025. Latin American Populism Between Horizontalism and Verticalism. Las Torres de Lucca. International Journal of Political Philosophy 14:2 ► pp. 241 ff. DOI logo

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