Bristol University Press
4 Paths to Agreement in Participatory Democracy: Three Cases in Yucatán
Abstract
At the local level of Mexican politics, civil society still finds ways to influence governments and become part of important decisions. In several Mexican cities, large and small, civil society participation has enriched public affairs, showing that effective collaboration among sectors is possible. This chapter deals with three examples of such collaboration in the past two decades from the State of Yucatán, where government and civil society can boast several experiences that have united different actors to confront local problems and forge satisfactory solutions. Although some severe social conflicts in the state reflect the country’s prevailing problems of representation and participation, those processes also exhibit elements that are important for plural collaboration between government and society, such as good leadership, development of communicative abilities, and use of networks. A favourable political context and well-designed political strategies from demanding actors have been particularly important. The chapter reports evidence from three empirical case studies that a democratic culture-building process has become rooted in Yucatán with more speed and strength than in many other parts of the country. This includes the multiplication of civil society organizations and governments’ positive disposition to engage in collaboration with social actors.
Abstract
At the local level of Mexican politics, civil society still finds ways to influence governments and become part of important decisions. In several Mexican cities, large and small, civil society participation has enriched public affairs, showing that effective collaboration among sectors is possible. This chapter deals with three examples of such collaboration in the past two decades from the State of Yucatán, where government and civil society can boast several experiences that have united different actors to confront local problems and forge satisfactory solutions. Although some severe social conflicts in the state reflect the country’s prevailing problems of representation and participation, those processes also exhibit elements that are important for plural collaboration between government and society, such as good leadership, development of communicative abilities, and use of networks. A favourable political context and well-designed political strategies from demanding actors have been particularly important. The chapter reports evidence from three empirical case studies that a democratic culture-building process has become rooted in Yucatán with more speed and strength than in many other parts of the country. This includes the multiplication of civil society organizations and governments’ positive disposition to engage in collaboration with social actors.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of Tables, Figures and Boxes iv
- Notes on Contributors v
- Acknowledgements viii
- Introduction 1
- Representation: Disputable Claims, Contestable Concept 16
- Representation in Complex Associative Systems: Exclusion and Embodiment 39
- Paths to Agreement in Participatory Democracy: Three Cases in Yucatán 63
- Daring Mexico City’s Government to Deliberate: Interplay between Representation and Participation 86
- Contesting Gender Representation in Oaxaca’s Indigenous Communities 106
- Ontological and Political Representation in Community Development Discourse 128
- Acting as a Representative: The Case of the Executive Council of Global Corporations 148
- Delivering Genuine Change and National Redemption: Representative Claims in Mexico’s 2018 Election 166
- Afterword: The Travels and Travails of Political Representation 185
- Index 191
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of Tables, Figures and Boxes iv
- Notes on Contributors v
- Acknowledgements viii
- Introduction 1
- Representation: Disputable Claims, Contestable Concept 16
- Representation in Complex Associative Systems: Exclusion and Embodiment 39
- Paths to Agreement in Participatory Democracy: Three Cases in Yucatán 63
- Daring Mexico City’s Government to Deliberate: Interplay between Representation and Participation 86
- Contesting Gender Representation in Oaxaca’s Indigenous Communities 106
- Ontological and Political Representation in Community Development Discourse 128
- Acting as a Representative: The Case of the Executive Council of Global Corporations 148
- Delivering Genuine Change and National Redemption: Representative Claims in Mexico’s 2018 Election 166
- Afterword: The Travels and Travails of Political Representation 185
- Index 191
