Pronunciamientos, petitions and elections in the Colombian crisis (1826-1832). A case study on the forms of political instability in the Hispanic world in the early XIXth century

Abstract

The political crisis that compromised Simon Bolivar´s dream of a great nation that united the northern territories of South America is considered as a case study. By stressing the central role of the pueblos and of military corporations and the nature of the political resources that these actors displayed during the Colombian crisis (1826-1832), the author proposes the thesis that the endemic instability that Latin American republics experienced in the early XIXth century was not the consequence of a presumed reluctance to legality and constitutionalism. Rather, it was the result of a political culture embedded in catholic theology that maintained the monarchical normativity in force and the jurisdictional exercise of power. Constitutionalism guaranteed the conditions for its reproduction, enhancing conflict amongst other things because it promoted intense political participation of new actors through a set of devices highly institutionalized and legalized.