Published on and written by Cyril Jarnias
The history of the country in Ecuador is marked by exceptional cultural and political wealth and almost chronic institutional instability, regularly “corrected” by new constitutions. From the dawn of the first pre-Columbian societies to the current debates on the relevance of the 2008 Constitution, Ecuador has continuously reinvented its social pact.
To understand Ecuador’s history, several intertwined elements must be considered: the legacy of indigenous and Inca peoples, the Spanish conquest, the wars of independence, the construction of the republican state, border conflicts, economic crises, and cycles of coups d’état. Added to these are innovative political experiments, such as the recognition of the rights of nature and the concept of Buen Vivir (sumak kawsay).
From Pre-Columbian Societies to the Inca Conquest
Long before the arrival of the Spanish, the territory that would become Ecuador had been occupied for millennia. Great archaeological periods succeeded one another, from the pre-ceramic phase to the integrated societies of the era just before the Incas. Coastal cultures such as Valdivia, Machalilla, Chorrera, Bahía, Jama-Coaque, and La Tolita developed fishing, agriculture, navigation, elite craftsmanship, and long-distance trade networks. In the Sierra, other complexes took shape, eventually forming confederations like that of Quito.
These societies had a complex hierarchical structure including shamans and specialized artisans. Their trade network was driven by merchants called *mindala*, who transported precious goods such as cacao, salt, gold, and spondylus shells. These exchanges extended from the Andes to the Amazon, and sometimes as far as Mexico, making this territory a crucial crossroads between the Andean, Amazonian, and Pacific worlds.
From the second half of the 15th century, the Inca empire began to extend its control northward. Under Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui, then his son Tupac Yupanqui, and especially Huayna Capac, most of Ecuador’s territory was incorporated into the Tawantinsuyu. Resistance was fierce from the Cañari, Quitu-Cara, and other peoples, but the Inca army eventually imposed its dominance and established Quechua as the vehicular language. Quito became a sort of second capital, a sign of the region’s strategic weight.
The death of Huayna Capac from smallpox triggered a civil war between his sons Huáscar and Atahualpa. Atahualpa’s decisive victory at Riobamba significantly weakened the Inca empire, leaving it vulnerable as Francisco Pizarro’s Spanish forces approached, thus paving the way for the conquest.
Spanish Colonization and the Birth of the Real Audiencia of Quito
When Pizarro’s troops captured Atahualpa at Cajamarca in 1532, then executed him the following year, a new colonial order was established. Lieutenant Sebastián de Benalcázar marched north, defeated Rumiñahui near Chimborazo, and founded the city of San Francisco de Quito on the ruins of the ancient Inca city in 1534. Guayaquil was also founded and later consolidated, despite resistance from the Huancavilca.
In the 16th century, the Spanish Crown created the Real Audiencia of Quito (1563). It was initially attached to the Viceroyalty of Peru, then transferred to that of New Granada in the 18th century. This administrative territory covered not only the Sierra and coast of present-day Ecuador but also regions that are now part of Colombia and Peru. Its economy was based on haciendas, livestock, and significant textile production in the Sierra. The port of Guayaquil played a key role in shipbuilding and trade.
The encomienda system, which granted land and indigenous labor to colonists in exchange for superficial evangelization, caused a dramatic demographic collapse, worsened by diseases from Europe. Attempts at regulation (New Laws, royal decrees) did little to limit abuses. The Jesuits, very active in the Andes and Amazon, created missions and educational networks until their expulsion in 1767.
Despite its small size (Quito had only about 10,000 inhabitants on the eve of the independence movements), the city became a major intellectual hub. It was there that the famous “first cry of independence” arose in 1809, earning it the nickname Luz de América.
Independence, Gran Colombia, and the Birth of the Republic of Ecuador
The revolutionary wave that swept through Spanish America after 1808 reached the Real Audiencia of Quito. On August 10, 1809, Creoles established an autonomous junta in the name of Ferdinand VII. The experiment was short-lived and violently repressed, but it inspired other uprisings. The port of Guayaquil declared independence on October 9, 1820, joining the anti-royalist coalition led by Simón Bolívar and Antonio José de Sucre.
The year of the Battle of Pichincha that ended Spanish domination over the territory of present-day Ecuador.
Bolívar’s project of a great Andean republic ran up against regional oppositions, rivalries between centralists and federalists, and the difficulty of managing vast territories with divergent interests. When Gran Colombia dissolved, the Southern Department seceded in 1830: May 13 is generally recognized as the birth date of the Ecuadorian state. An Assembly in Riobamba adopted the first Constitution (1830) and appointed General Juan José Flores, of Venezuelan origin and close to Bolívar, as the first president. Very quickly, Ecuador annexed the Galápagos Islands (1832), a symbol of its maritime ambition, but internally, the new state remained fragile.
19th Century: Internal Struggles, Border Wars, and Revolutions
The young Republic found itself caught in a double set of tensions. First between regional clans: the high Sierra (Quito, Cuenca), more conservative, clerical, and tied to a landed economy, and the coast (Guayaquil), more liberal, focused on foreign trade and later cacao exports. Then in external rivalries, notably with Peru, over the poorly defined territorial legacy of former colonial jurisdictions.
In the 19th century, Ecuador experienced great constitutional instability, with 12 fundamental texts adopted between 1830 and 1906. These constitutions were often used to consolidate or change political regimes. Two charters are particularly notable: the Constitution of 1843, nicknamed *Carta de la Esclavitud*, which significantly strengthened executive power with an 8-year presidential term and limited Congressional sessions; and the Constitution of 1869, called *Carta Negra*, which instituted the death penalty for certain political crimes, made Catholicism the sole state religion, and allowed Gabriel García Moreno to attain a second term.
Between these authoritarian episodes, more liberal processes prevailed. Abolition of slavery was proclaimed in 1851, and the indigenous tribute was abolished in 1857. In 1895, the Liberal Revolution, led by Eloy Alfaro, overthrew conservative hegemony. It resulted in a series of profound reforms: separation of Church and State, secularization of education, development of a network of secular schools, construction of the Guayaquil-Quito railroad, and recognition of broader public liberties. The Constitutions of 1897 and then 1906 reflected this new direction: freedom of worship, abolition of the death penalty, secularism.
Ecuador has been marked by border conflicts inherited from the colonial era with Peru, notably the war of 1941 and the clashes at Paquisha (1981) and Cenepa (1995). These tensions, finally resolved by the Brasília Accord in 1998, weighed on the country’s stability from the 19th century onward, already weakened by civil wars, regional insurrections, and caudillist regimes.
20th Century: Populisms, Coups d’État, and Economic Crisis
The Ecuadorian 20th century alternates between democratic experiments, military dictatorships, and populist presidencies. One figure sums up this volatility: José María Velasco Ibarra, elected five times between 1934 and 1972, but completing only one term. The period was marked by coups d’état, constituent assemblies (1945, 1946, 1967, 1978, 1998), and social crises. The military intervened regularly, either to overthrow presidents (1963, 1972, 1976) or to oversee transitions.
In the 1970s, the discovery of oil in the Amazon transformed the Ecuadorian economy. The construction of the trans-Andean pipeline in 1972 made the country the second regional exporter. The State strengthened its control by creating the state oil company CEPE, joining OPEC, and launching a vast infrastructure program. Under the nationalist military regime of Guillermo Rodríguez Lara (1972‑1976), the rhetoric was revolutionary, but land reform failed, land concentration persisted, and inflation soared. In 1976, a new military junta, the Supreme Council of Government, took power with the promise of restoring democracy.
A popular consultation in 1978 approved a new Constitution that expanded suffrage (voting for illiterates) and limited presidential re-election. The 1979 elections brought Jaime Roldós Aguilera to the presidency, alongside his vice president Osvaldo Hurtado. This was the return to civilian government after almost a decade of de facto rule. But this institutional improvement did not shield the country from economic turbulence.
The Great Crisis of the Late 1990s and Dollarization
Between 1982 and the late 1990s, Ecuador struggled through a prolonged stagnation: weak growth, average inflation of 39% per year, public debt above 90% of GDP in 1998, and extreme dependence on oil revenues (nearly 40% of public resources). A series of external shocks—El Niño in 1997‑1998 devastating crops and infrastructure, a sharp drop in crude oil prices in 1998, financial crises in Asia, Russia, and Brazil—further weakened an already vulnerable economy.
Financial liberalization, poorly regulated by the 1994 law, led to a boom in risky credit (often in dollars) to clients with incomes in sucres. Weak banking supervision and the central bank’s role as lender of last resort encouraged reckless behavior, without effective crisis management mechanisms.
In 1999, everything collapsed: bank closures, a “banking holiday” in March, and a freeze on foreign currency deposits for several months. The national currency depreciated by nearly 80% between August 1998 and January 2000, inflation approached 30% per month, non-performing loans reached 57% of portfolios, GDP fell by 4.7%, unemployment rose to 17%, and poverty affected nearly 69% of the population. The country defaulted on its external debt (Brady bonds), becoming the first in the world to do so on that type of instrument. This debacle caused the largest wave of emigration in Ecuadorian history.
Fixed conversion rate when the US dollar was adopted as legal tender in Ecuador in January 2000.
The results were radical: inflation fell from 96% in 2000 to about 3.4% average annually after 2002; interest rates collapsed (the 30-day lending rate went from 89% at the end of 1999 to 16% a year later); between 2000 and 2008, GDP growth averaged 4.3% per year, largely driven by high oil prices. But this stabilization came at a price: Ecuador deprived itself of monetary and exchange rate policy, relying almost exclusively on fiscal adjustment to absorb shocks. The economic structure remained poorly diversified, and public debt began to rise again from the 2010s, reaching nearly 46% of GDP in 2018.
The “Citizen Revolution” and the 2008 Constitution
The crisis of the 1990s, the dollarization imposed as an emergency, the succession of presidents deposed or hindered (seven heads of state between 1996 and 2006) prepared the ground for a deep rejection of the traditional political system. When Rafael Correa came to power in 2007, backed by his movement Alianza PAIS and his discourse of breaking with “neoliberalism”, he proposed to refound the State through a new Constitution.
In April 2007, a referendum on convening a Constituent Assembly garnered nearly 80% “yes” votes. The elections to this Assembly in September of the same year gave an almost hegemonic majority to Alianza PAIS (74 seats out of 130). Installed in Montecristi, at the complex symbolically named Ciudad Alfaro (in homage to Eloy Alfaro), the Assembly had an official six months, extendable by two, to draft a new text. It approved a draft of 494 articles in July 2008.
In September 2008, a referendum ratified the new Constitution with approximately 63 to 69% of the vote depending on sources, marking the entry into force of the twentieth Constitution in Ecuadorian history. Published in the Official Register on October 20, 2008, it opened a new era, as ambitious as it was original, in the country’s political and legal history.
A “Plurinational” State of Rights and Justice
The 2008 Constitution redefines Ecuador as a “constitutional state of rights and justice”: social, democratic, sovereign, independent, unitary, intercultural, plurinational, and secular, organized as a Republic and governed by decentralization. Sovereignty resides in the people, who exercise it through public authorities, but also through mechanisms of direct and community participation.
Several elements mark a break with previous texts. First, the explicit recognition of diversity: Ecuador is plurinational; indigenous peoples and nationalities, the Afro-Ecuadorian people, the montubios, and communes are part of the State and have collective rights (ancestral lands, participation in the use of natural resources, prior consultation, bilingual education, their own legal system within their territories, etc.). Next, the affirmation of interculturality as an organizing principle, and the integration of Kichwa and Shuar languages as official languages for intercultural relations, alongside Spanish.
Buen Vivir (sumak kawsay) as a Horizon
One of the most discussed innovations of the 2008 Constitution is the inclusion of Buen Vivir (sumak kawsay in Kichwa) as a guiding principle. The Preamble expresses the will to build a new form of civic coexistence “in harmony with nature” to achieve the “good way of living.” Buen Vivir is mentioned 25 times in the text, notably to frame development planning, poverty alleviation, equitable redistribution of resources, education, health, social security, housing, cultural diversity, and sustainability.
It aims to propose an alternative to the purely productivist paradigm and unlimited growth, drawing on indigenous worldviews that value reciprocity, solidarity, collectivity, and equality with other living beings. The Constitution thus makes public planning a central duty of the State to organize development, eradicate poverty, and promote a sustainable model oriented toward Buen Vivir.
Rights of Nature: A Global Innovation
The 2008 Constitution is the first in the world to explicitly recognize rights for nature as a subject of law. Inspired by notions of Pachamama and sumak kawsay, it establishes, in articles 71 to 74, nature as an entity bearing rights: the right to exist, persist, and regenerate. The protection of ecosystems, biodiversity, genetic heritage, the prevention of environmental damage, and restoration of degraded areas are declared of public interest.
Some provisions go far: prohibition of non-renewable resource extraction in protected areas, veto on activities likely to cause species extinction or ecosystem destruction, and a ban on introducing organisms that alter genetic heritage. Environmental services cannot be appropriated: only the State can regulate them, thus avoiding the full commodification of nature.
In this area, Ecuador benefits from the support of international legal networks such as the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, which helped it develop laws concretizing this new status of nature. This constitutional shift has influenced other countries and municipalities worldwide, but Ecuador remains, at the national level, the only one to have constitutionalized the rights of nature so broadly.
Education, Health, Water, Social Security: An Unparalleled Catalog of Rights
According to the Comparative Constitutions Project, the 2008 Ecuadorian Constitution is one of those containing the largest number of fundamental rights in the world. This density is expressed particularly in the social domains.
Education is a lifelong right and a primary obligation of the State. It must be participatory, compulsory, intercultural, inclusive, high quality, and promote gender equity, justice, solidarity, peace, critical thinking, art, sports, and community initiatives. Public education is universal, secular, and free up to the third level of higher education. The State guarantees freedom of teaching, academic autonomy, the right to learn in one’s own language and culture, as well as the freedom of parents to choose their children’s education according to their beliefs.
In terms of health, the Constitution asserts that the State must guarantee this right through economic, social, cultural, educational, and environmental policies. Health services must be governed by equity, universality, solidarity, interculturality, quality, prevention, and bioethics. Social security is a universal and inalienable right, with the State assuming primary responsibility.
Access to water is elevated to the status of a fundamental human right, non-negotiable, with water described as a strategic national resource. Public policies must aim to guarantee this right for all, which is no small detail in a country marked by territorial tensions over irrigation and mining concessions.
We can summarize some of these axes in an initial table.
Table 1 – Some Key Fundamental Rights in the 2008 Constitution
| Domain | Main Constitutional Guarantees |
|---|---|
| Water | Essential human right, non-renounceable; water recognized as a national strategic good; priority for human use and ecosystem preservation |
| Education | Lifelong right; free public education up to 3rd level; compulsory, intercultural, secular, inclusive |
| Health | Right guaranteed through comprehensive policies; services based on equity, universality, prevention, interculturality, bioethics |
| Social Security | Right for all persons; non-renounceable; primary responsibility of the State to ensure universal coverage |
| Nature / Environment | Rights of nature; conservation of ecosystems, prevention of damage; mandatory restoration; prohibition of extraction in protected areas |
| Communication | Right to free, intercultural, inclusive, participatory communication; universal access to ICT; media pluralism |
Rights of Specific Groups: Children, Youth, Elderly, Persons with Disabilities
The Constitution does not stop at general principles; it details specific protections for several categories deemed priority. Children and adolescents benefit from a principle of “best interest” that must prevail in any decision concerning them. They have the right to physical and psychological integrity, identity, health, nutrition, education, culture, sports, social security, social participation, freedom of expression and association, and information about their parents. Work for children under fifteen is prohibited, and work for adolescents must not harm their schooling.
Elderly persons (from age 65) are guaranteed a set of rights: specialized and free health care, free access to medicines, the right to paid work, universal pensions, discounts on public services, tax exemptions, and facilitated access to housing. Abandonment of the elderly is established as a crime.
Persons with disabilities have the right to specialized care, social security, tax exemptions, employment under equal conditions, adapted housing, inclusive or specialized education, psychological support, and the removal of architectural barriers. The State must also implement inclusion programs, scholarships, productive credits, policies for political participation and leisure.
These commitments can be detailed in a second table.
Table 2 – Protection of Specific Groups in the 2008 Constitution
| Group Concerned | Main Constitutional Rights and Measures |
|---|---|
| Children and Adolescents | Best interest priority; prohibition of work for < 15 years; protection against exploitation, violence, abuse; education in own language |
| Elderly | Free health care; access to medicines; right to work; universal pension; discounts on public services; abandonment prohibited |
| Youth | Recognition as strategic actors in development; rights to education, health, housing, leisure, participation, and first job |
| Persons with Disabilities | Free specialized care; social security; reduced taxes; fair employment; adapted housing; inclusive education; accessibility |
| Migrants and Refugees | Right to migrate; refusal to qualify a human being as “illegal”; rights to asylum and refuge; principle of non-refoulement |
Citizen Participation and Direct Democracy
Another pillar of the 2008 Constitution: participation. The text enshrines representative democracy but adds mechanisms of direct and community democracy. Citizens can present legislative initiatives, demand referendums, organize veedurías (oversight committees), participate in public hearings or advisory councils; they even have a right of “resistance” against acts or omissions that harm rights.
Ecuador’s institutional architecture established participation entities at all levels of government, bringing together elected authorities and civil society representatives. The Council for Citizen Participation and Social Control (CPCCS) was tasked with promoting this involvement and appointing certain high-ranking state officials. This mechanism, which became one of the most controversial points of the system under President Rafael Correa, was later subject to significant reforms under his successor, Lenín Moreno.
Referendums and popular consultations, in turn, can be convened by the president, by autonomous decentralized governments, or through citizen initiative, subject to approval by the Constitutional Court regarding their conformity. Rules set signature thresholds (0.25%, 1%, 5%, 10% of the electorate depending on the type and level of initiative) and regulate recall of mandates (removal by popular vote) for elected authorities, including the president.
A Constrained Hyper-Presidentialism?
Despite this profusion of rights and participatory mechanisms, the 2008 Constitution significantly strengthens executive power. The president has broad prerogatives: legislative initiative, veto, the ability to dissolve the National Assembly under certain circumstances, emergency powers, and a decisive role in appointments to key positions (including through influence on the Constitutional Court and the Electoral Council).
Although initially the Constitution limits presidential terms to two, Rafael Correa managed to circumvent this restriction by arguing that his 2009 re-election was the first under the new text; then, in 2015, a constitutional reform eliminated term limits starting in 2021. At the same time, several amendments (2011, 2015) reduced certain procedural guarantees and drew alerts from organizations like Freedom House, which noted a deterioration in democracy scores.
Correa remained in power from 2007 to 2017, becoming the longest-serving president in contemporary Ecuadorian history. His “Citizen Revolution” centralized power, weakened the traditional party system, strengthened the state in the economy, and promoted a model he described as “post-neoliberal.” The result is ambivalent: on one hand, a decade of relative stability after a long cycle of instability; on the other, an institutional imbalance that would later result in strong tensions over reforms and accountability of leaders.
Social Effects and Contradictions of the New Model
Between 2008 and 2016, several social indicators improved markedly. The share of income captured by the poorest 50% rose from about 8.9% in 2007 to 13.2% in 2016, while the Gini coefficient fell from 53.4 to 45, signaling a limited reduction in inequality. Public social spending initially doubled, more people gained access to social security, and some services were partially de-commodified.
School enrollment increased by nearly 48% to 49% among indigenous and Afro-descendant populations between 2006 and 2016.
Some elements of this evolution can be presented in a summary table.
Table 3 – Social Trends After the Adoption of the 2008 Constitution
| Indicator | Situation Before 2008 | Observed Evolution (approx.) 2008‑2016 |
|---|---|---|
| Share of income of poorest 50% | 8.9% of national income (2007) | 13.2% in 2016 |
| Gini coefficient | 53.4 (2007) | 45 in 2016 (decrease in inequality) |
| Real minimum wage | Base 100 in 2007 | +40% between 2007 and 2012 |
| Early childhood access | Low coverage | 12-fold increase in access to preschool education |
| Indigenous / Afro education | High under-schooling | +48% to +49% attendance (2006‑2016) |
| Monetary poverty | 36.7% (2006) | 22.5% (2016) |
At the same time, certain structural contradictions persisted, even intensified. The model remained largely extractivist: oil and mining revenues continued to finance the social state, despite constitutional proclamations in favor of Pachamama. Rafael Correa himself criticized what he called the “ecological and indigenous infantilism” of some sectors opposed to extraction projects in sensitive areas like Yasuní National Park. Facing the limits of dollarization and the volatility of commodity prices, the government contracted growing external debt, notably with China.
These tensions reverberated on the political landscape: conflicts with indigenous and environmental movements, protests against certain institutional reforms, and an accumulation of corruption cases. When Lenín Moreno, Correa’s designated successor, narrowly won the 2017 presidential election, he quickly broke with his predecessor, renegotiated the institutional balance, and enacted austerity measures.
2018 Referendum and Reopening of the Constitutional Question
In February 2018, a new referendum proposed seven questions, several of which directly concerned the institutional architecture designed in 2008. Voters approved reinstating term limits for the president and legislature, thereby preventing Rafael Correa from running for a return in 2021, as well as stronger penalties for corruption, a reconfiguration of the Council for Citizen Participation and Social Control, elimination of the statute of limitations for sexual crimes against children, and a ban on mining in certain sensitive areas. Other aspects concerned taxation (repeal of a law on capital gains from real estate) or the reduction of oil extraction in Yasuní National Park.
The referendum called by President Lenín Moreno weakened the “Citizen Revolution” movement and triggered a political realignment, with defections by supporters of Rafael Correa. This consultation and subsequent ones revealed a tendency to easily amend the Constitution, contrasting with the more rigid revision procedures in other countries.
An Unstable Constitutional History
Ecuador has had twenty Constitutions since 1830, one of the world records. Constitutions follow one another at a revealing pace: 1830, 1835, 1843, 1845, 1851, 1852, 1861, 1869, 1878, 1884, 1897, 1906, 1929, 1938, 1945, 1946, 1967, 1978, 1998, 2008. At each major crisis—civil war, coup d’état, economic collapse—the temptation returns to “refound” the country through a Constituent Assembly.
Constituent Assemblies in Ecuador have been held in different cities, each marking a political period: Riobamba (1830), Ambato (1835, 1878), Quito (19th and 20th centuries), Guayaquil (late 19th century), Sangolquí (1997‑1998), and Montecristi (2007‑2008). The resulting Constitutions vary: that of 1906 is a liberal charter (Church-State separation); those of 1843 and 1869 are authoritarian. The 1978 Constitution allowed the return to democracy, the 1998 Constitution modernized the state, and the 2008 Constitution responded to the “feriado bancario” crisis.
A significant part of contemporary political life remains structured by this culture of “exit through the top” via Constitutions. However, this comes at a cost: rather than gradually consolidating a lasting “social contract,” each ruler tempted by refoundation adapts the fundamental law to their project, even at the risk of weakening the checks and balances that could limit them. This is one of the major criticisms leveled at the 2008 Constitution: by giving the president broad margins of action while multiplying social promises, it makes the institutional architecture highly dependent on a particular leadership.
New Debates Around the 2008 Constitution
The sequence opened with the election of Lenín Moreno already shows that the 2008 Constitution is neither a sacred text nor a definitive compromise. The referendums of 2011, 2015, and 2018 modified it on various points (justice, media, re-election, CPCCS), sometimes in a restrictive direction for freedoms, sometimes conversely to restore democratic safeguards.
The successive elections of Lasso and then Noboa, in a context of drug trafficking violence, raises questions about the ability of the 2008 Constitution to respond to the multidimensional security crisis and organized crime, marked by very high homicide rates, prisons controlled by gangs, and an erosion of trust in institutions.
Daniel Noboa argues that certain procedural guarantees and rights granted to detained persons hinder effective action against organized crime. He proposes reforms, notably through a referendum, to toughen the penal regime, allow the extradition of Ecuadorian nationals, and expand the role of the armed forces in law enforcement. While some of these measures resonate with public opinion, others are rejected by the Constitutional Court, which plays its role as guardian of the text.
President Noboa proposes an institutional overhaul, notably integrating the Constitutional Court into the Supreme Court, making it more vulnerable to removals and reducing checks on the executive. A referendum is scheduled for November 2025 to convene a Constituent Assembly tasked with drafting a new Constitution. Official objectives are to strengthen the fight against crime and liberalize the economy to attract foreign investment.
This perspective revives a well-known pattern: a new government, facing institutional limits, proposes to rewrite the rules of the game in depth. Critics highlight the risk of repeating the cycle: each majority constitutionalizes its agenda, weakens certain checks and balances, then is itself contradicted by a new majority that in turn reforms the Constitution, to the detriment of long-term stability.
A Society in Tension Between Proclaimed Rights and Socio-Economic Realities
Despite their density, the rights enshrined in the 2008 Constitution are only partially translated into daily reality. The contrast is stark between the normative wealth of the text—formal equality without discrimination based on ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, or migratory status; the right to a healthy environment; the right to information and pluralistic communication, etc.—and the persistence of deep inequalities, uneven public services, violence, and corruption.
The progress in reducing poverty and inequality achieved under President Rafael Correa is threatened by several factors: an economic slowdown after 2011, falling oil prices, austerity policies linked to an IMF program in 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the resurgence of drug trafficking violence. These crises have shaken social advances, in a context where informal employment remains very high, child malnutrition persists, and migration is once again a crucial survival strategy for many households.
Social movements—unions, indigenous organizations, environmental defense associations, feminist or LGBTIQ+ collectives—have mobilized repeatedly against fuel price hikes, against extractive projects deemed contrary to the Constitution, or to demand effective implementation of rights. In some cases, rulings by the Constitutional Court have sided with these mobilizations: for example, by requiring that industrial projects respect collective rights and the rights of nature, and not impose “excessive sacrifices” on communities.
The country’s central recent challenge is to stabilize a constitutional order capable of responding to security, economic, and social emergencies, while preserving its unique democratic innovations: Buen Vivir, the rights of nature, and plurinationality.
Conclusion: A Political Laboratory in Search of Stability
The history of the country in Ecuador, as read through its successive Constitutions, is that of a permanent political laboratory. From pre-Columbian civilizations to the Inca conquest, from Spanish colonization to the wars of independence, from the radical liberalism of Eloy Alfaro to the military regimes of the 20th century, from the dollarization of 2000 to the 2008 Constitution, each generation seems to have wanted to rewrite the rules of the political community.
The 2008 Constitution established major innovations such as the plurinational state, Buen Vivir, the rights of nature, and broad recognition of social and cultural rights. It initially helped reduce inequalities. However, it also led to a concentration of executive power, did not prevent debt accumulation, the persistence of an extractivist economic model, and more recently, a serious security crisis.
The current debate over the advisability of a new Constituent Assembly, notably promoted by President Daniel Noboa, fits into this long tradition of successive refoundations. It confronts Ecuador with a dilemma: continue seeking solutions to crises by rewriting the fundamental law, at the risk of perpetuating institutional instability, or bet on a more coherent and faithful application of the existing Constitution, even if it means amending it occasionally.
Whatever the outcome of upcoming consultations, recent history shows that the robustness of a constitutional order depends not only on legal creativity or the number of rights proclaimed, but also on society’s ability to defend those rights, institutions’ capacity to check each other, and the state’s ability to reconcile social justice, protection of nature, and public security. On these fronts, Ecuador continues to write, before our eyes, a singular political history, made of spectacular ruptures and unfinished quests for Buen Vivir.
Constitutional and Political Analysis of Ecuador
Disclaimer: The information provided on this website is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or professional advice. We encourage you to consult qualified experts before making any investment, real estate, or expatriation decisions. Although we strive to maintain up-to-date and accurate information, we do not guarantee the completeness, accuracy, or timeliness of the proposed content. As investment and expatriation involve risks, we disclaim any liability for potential losses or damages arising from the use of this site. Your use of this site confirms your acceptance of these terms and your understanding of the associated risks.
Cyril Jarnias is an independent expert in international wealth management with over 20 years of experience. As an expatriate himself, he is dedicated to helping individuals and business leaders build, protect, and pass on their wealth with complete peace of mind.
On his website, cyriljarnias.com, he shares his expertise on international real estate, offshore company formation, and expatriation.
Thanks to his expertise, he offers sound advice to optimize his clients' wealth management. Cyril Jarnias is also recognized for his appearances in many prestigious media outlets such as BFM Business, les Français de l’étranger, Le Figaro, Les Echos, and Mieux vivre votre argent, where he shares his knowledge and know-how in wealth management.
