''Wiki-constitutionalism'' is a

neologism In linguistics, a neologism (; also known as a coinage) is any newly formed word, term, or phrase that has achieved popular or institutional recognition and is becoming accepted into mainstream language. Most definitively, a word can be considered ...

coined by political analyst Daniel Lansberg-Rodriguez in a 2010 article for ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' (often abbreviated as ''TNR'') is an American magazine focused on domestic politics, news, culture, and the arts from a left-wing perspective. It publishes ten print magazines a year and a daily online platform. ''The New Y ...

''. The term describes the phenomenon in which national governments, particularly in

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

, rewrite their constitutions completely every few years, a habit which Lansberg-Rodriguez argues usually leads to overly strengthened executives as other branches of government will lack "the institutional legitimacy, memory, relationships, and mandate necessary to govern independently." The term itself is an amalgam of constitution and the "ever-morphing articles on the open-source database

Wikipedia Wikipedia is a free content, free Online content, online encyclopedia that is written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and the wiki software MediaWiki. Founded by Jimmy Wales and La ...

." Lansberg-Rodriguez' article was later recommended for reading by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''.

Overview

The principal evidence cited for the existence of "Wiki-constitutionalism" is the sheer number of constitutions which have existed in Latin America when compared with other regions of the globe. If one looks at fully restructured rewrites (as opposed to amendments), "the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

has had 32 separate constitutions since its independence in 1821.

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

follows close behind with 26,

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

has had 24,

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

20, and

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

recently passed its seventeenth" and "over half of the 21 Latin American nations have had at least ten constitutions while, in the rest of the world, only Thailand (17), France (16), Greece (13), and Poland (10) have reached double digits." The original piece is highly critical of leaders such as Hugo Chávez, Rafael Correa and Evo Morales who have allegedly helped prolong a self-perpetuating cycle of constitutional attrition by pushing new constitutions packaged with "ever-longer lists of promises and rights alongside greater executive functions", resulting in constitutions which are "not only the shortest-lived, but also among the longest in the world." Bolivia's and Ecuador's constitutions have 411 and 444 articles, respectively, and "read like laundry lists of guaranteed rights, such as access to mail and telephones; guarantees for culture, identity, and dignity; and shorter work-weeks."

Controversy

After an unauthorized and inaccurate Spanish translation of the article began circulating in May 2010, controversy erupted in the Dominican press over Wiki-constitutionalism and whether the mention of Dominican President Leonel Fernández alongside Hugo Chávez, Rafael Correa, Evo Morales and Colombian president Álvaro Uribe as "attempting to tear up and revise their constitutionally mandated term limits" was tantamount to an accusation of his being a dictator. Ramon Morel Cerda, the former head of the Supreme Electoral Council for the Dominican Republic discussed the controversy on June 7, 2010, in an opinion piece for the "Hoy" Newspaper.

References

*{{cite web , url=http://www.theatlanticwire.com/features/view/feature/Latin-American-Constitutions--Wikipedia-1347 , title=Latin American Constitutions = Wikipedia , first=Alex , last=Eichler , date=June 1, 2010 , work= The Atlantic Wire , access-date=September 23, 2010 , archive-date=June 8, 2010 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100608075902/http://www.theatlanticwire.com/features/view/feature/Latin-American-Constitutions--Wikipedia-1347 , url-status=dead 2010 neologisms Latin America Wikipedia Political neologisms Constitutions