Local Participatory Democracy in Latin America: From Social Inclusion Mechanisms to Policy Instruments ?

• In Event: 25 years of Participatory Governance in Latin America: Advances, shortcomings, and unexpected outcomes

Abstract

Participatory institutions have now been implemented for more than 25 years in several Latin American countries. Often designed as social inclusion mechanisms targeting the poor and socially marginalized populations at the local level, the first wave of participatory institutions allowed for discussions over questions of urban planning, urbanization and access to basic services. Research has shown that resources have indeed been redistributed more equally, and that well-being has generally improved as a result in several cases. As time passed, favelas in Brazil urbanized through participatory budgeting, irregular neigborhood with no services and rights got recognition and voice as a result of participatory planning in Mexico, and traditionnally excluded concerns from vulnerable citizens gained a voice in the municipal decision-making process. At the same time, the national democratic and political contexts within which such mechanisms have first emerged has also changed, with an ever-growing number of spaces and places to organize, protest and formulate demands.

How did participatory institutions adapt to the changes in both their endogenous conditions and exogenous environment in Latin America? In this essay, I argue that in cases where such participatory institutions have survived change in contexts, they have generally adapted by transforming. From social inclusion and citizen mobilization mechanisms, innovative participatory institutions have often become policy instruments for local governments, and guichets for users/beneficiaries to direct their punctual demands. Over time, this may result in a change in logics of participatory citizenship building and in the nature of the early local participatory mechanisms in certain municipalities, but is it also a consequence of their institutionalization as components of larger participatory systems and their interactions with representative democratic institutions.

Author

• Françoise Montambeault, Université de Montréal