The Uruguayan political institutions at the end of the twentieth century. A balance oriented towards long terms and comparative references with comparable itineraries

Abstract

From the second decade of this century, the country managed to configure a pluralistic and decentralizing inspiration, whose background and rudiments can be traced from the second half of the nineteenth century. Its ability to diagnose the shortcomings of the Constitution of 1830, the familiarity with successful models, as well as its commitment to interparty competition and its deliberate remoteness from Rousseau's assumptions, make the novelty of such a design. A tradition of an opposite sign, of a majority and plebiscitary nature, more associated to the more active fractions of the Colorado Party than to its traditional nationalist adversary, evolved alongside and in competition with the "disperser" challenge. The article reviews these trajectories of the Uruguayan political system while pointing out the "amnesia" of the traditional party collectivities to valorize their respective historical legacies.