We the Mediated People

Populist leaders define the people as one segment of the population that is unbound by law to centralize power. This book retells the story of constitution-making in South America to develop an alternative theory of how and how not to break law to construct an inclusive people. Braver argues that through the "extraordinary adaptation" of old institutions, an inclusive people may illegally create a new constitution but still protect democracy. He examines how populist leaders in Venezuela and Ecuador established semi-authoritarian constitutions through lawless constitution-making while Colombia and Bolivia managed to avoid the same fate by engaging in extraordinary adaptation.