The Judicial Defense of the Constitution in the Colombian Constitutionalism: Balance and Perspectives After Two Decades

Abstract

This article intends to explain the peak that judicial defense of the Constitution has experienced in Colombia. For such purpose, the study starts with a brief characterization of the Colombian Constitutionalism, identifying and explaining eight features of this phenomenon: the existence of a history and a tradition of constitutional control, the defense of Constitution as a public issue, the Constitution as an invasive rule in the social, economical and political destiny of the country, the dispersal of constitutional control, the permanent and progressive judicial construction of constitutionalism, the dialogue with other constitutional systems, the existence of a constitutional identity, and, the relative continuity with the juridical system and tradition. Over the basis of this characterization, we will obtain several conclusions around the judicial defense of the Constitution.