Resumo

HEVIA DE LA JARA, Felipe. La iniciativa legislativa popular en América Latina. Convergencia [online]. 2010, vol.17, n.52, pp.155-186. ISSN 2448-5799.

One of the features of democratization process in Latin America is the incorporation of direct democracy mechanisms, like referendum, legislative initiative and recall. This article analyzes specifically one of them: the popular legislative initiative (ILP), which is defined as the right of the citizens to present a law's projects to the Legislative, and/ or calling for a referendum to approve or reject bills and legal reforms. The article includes a discussion about the mechanisms of direct democracy in Latin America, a comparative study of laws that regulate the ILP in an international, national and sub-national level, an analysis of the use of these instruments in four countries (Uruguay, Colombia, Argentina and Mexico), and delivers a set of conclusions oriented to identify some critical factors for its implementation and utilization.

Palavras-chave : political participation; civil society; democracy; legislation; Latin America.