The institution of citizens’ assemblies, Cabildo Abierto and deliberative participation in modern states

The article discusses the conceptual foundations and practice of incorporation of deliberative theory and deliberative institutions into the sphere of public law and constitutional law in the process of using various forms of citizens’ participation in making constitutional changes. The author reveals scholarly views on the interaction of the public sphere and constitutional democratic innovations, the international discussion on the nature and significance of democratic innovations, on the one hand, and the relationship between popular sovereignty and populism, their impact on the process of democratic participation and the promotion of the rule of law, on the other hand. In the countries of the New and Old Worlds, in the global South and in the countries of the European continent, institutions of popular participation, citizen involvement through assemblies and other forms of participation are actively used and find partial constitutional or legislative consolidation. The article examines the nature and specificity of primary citizens’ assemblies, the significance of Cabildo Abierto in Latin American countries, the experience of constitutionalization and legal regulation of modern forms of democratic participation in constitutional changes in South Africa, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, the influence of digitalization processes on the Brazilian system of citizen engagement and participation infrastructure based on parliamentary-type digital platforms. The author draws attention to the significance of the European model of deliberative creation of constitutions, citizens’ assemblies and other forms of collective participation in constitutional changes and public initiatives. The study notes that in comparative constitutional experience and in normative regulation, citizens’ assemblies and constitutional conventions are used to consolidate and express constituent power. This generative power as a social phenomenon is manifested in the processes of public and political mobilization. The mobilization nature of constituent power can have several ways of implementation: 1) self-mobilization or partial self-mobilization; 2) engaging public and legal mobilization, 3) forced mobilization by public authorities of artists (for example, theater and cinema), scientists and public figures. The article uses deliberative and epistemological approaches, methods of formal-legal, concrete-historical, comparative constitutional and complex analysis.