Democracy and Populism in Colombia: Tensions Between the Popular and the Constitutional.

Abstract

Objective. To analyze the transformations of contemporary democracy arising from the rise of populism, articulating the theoretical perspectives of Cas Mudde, Ernesto Laclau, and Jan-Werner Müller with a normative reading of Luigi Ferrajoli's constitutional guarantee theory, with emphasis on Colombia as a paradigmatic case. Methodology. A theoretical-normative analysis is developed that integrates critical perspectives on populism with constitutional guarantee theory. The approach examines how representation crises, party system weakening, and digital communicative dynamics reconfigure the relationship between citizenship, leadership, and the State, paying particular attention to the role of social media in the antagonistic construction of the "people" and the "enemy." Results. Social media facilitate the discursive construction of the "people" and the "enemy," amplifying antagonistic discourses that erode pluralism, public deliberation, and institutional legitimacy. Colombian politics exhibits a paradigmatic case of populisms, messianism, and increasing polarization, where populisms—driven by structural crises—weaken the foundations of democratic coexistence. Conclusion. Constitutional guarantee theory is proposed as a pathway to reconstruct democratic legitimacy based on juridical limits to power, effective protection of fundamental rights, and the distinction between formal and substantive democracy. Only a robust constitutional State, capable of containing illiberal drift and preserving institutional balance, can offer a sustainable response to the challenges that populism poses in Colombia and in twenty-first-century democracies.