Citizen participation in subnational governments in Latin America

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

In recent years, governments across the region have implemented a range of reforms meant to increase citizen participation in local public affairs, at the same time that international and local civil society movements have also been making a push for greater citizen engagement at the local level. The papers in this panel examine the state of citizen participation in subnational public management across a range of countries, such as Bolivia, Chile, Guatemala and Peru, adding to our knowledge base of how these laws and advocacy movements have impacted citizen participation in practice. They use a range of methodologies, from qualitative interviews to an original survey, and generate both theories and empirical results from specific cases. Together, they highlight how evaluations of citizen participation need to consider issues such as the complex interplay of formal and informal mechanisms, linking local participation with regional and national policy processes, the limits of legal mandates, the importance of local adaptability and locally driven initiatives, and whether participatory reforms can tackle broader societal challenges and strengthen social justice and democracy more broadly.

Sub Track

• Political Institutions and Processes

Session Organizer

• Julie Anne Weaver, Harvard University

Chair

• Stephanie L McNulty, Franklin and Marshall College

Discussant

• Jorge Aragón, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú

Individual Presentations

• Multilevel Citizen Participation in Latin America - Thamy Pogrebinschi, WZB Berlin Social Science Center

• The Unfulfilled Promise of Subnational Citizen Participation in Peru, Guatemala, and Bolivia - Stephanie L McNulty, Franklin and Marshall College

• Formal and informal engagement: Local citizen-state relations and participation in rural mayoral politics - Julie Anne Weaver, Harvard University

• Form and Substance: the effects of transparency, access to information, and citizen participation laws on the democratisation of local governance in Chile - Jose Hernandez Bonivento