“Running from Behind.” An Analysis of the Neighborhood Councils of Montevideo

With the intention of exploring one of the central themes in current studies on participatory democracy, this study analyzes the influence of institutional design on citizens’ participation, focusing on a concrete experience –the neighborhood councils of Montevideo. The following is analyzed: a) The...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Ferla, Paula, Marzuca, Alejandra, Serdüit, Uwe, Welp, Yanina
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2014
País:Ecuador
Institución:Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales
Repositorio:Revista ICONOS
Idioma:español
OAI Identifier:oai:iconos.flacsoandes.edu.ec:article/1213
Acceso en línea:https://iconos.flacsoandes.edu.ec/index.php/iconos/article/view/1213
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Democracia participativa
Consejos vecinales
Montevideo
Participación ciudadana
Escuelas de ciudadanía
Participatory democracy
Neighborhood councils
Citizens’ participation
Citizenship schools.
Descripción
Sumario:With the intention of exploring one of the central themes in current studies on participatory democracy, this study analyzes the influence of institutional design on citizens’ participation, focusing on a concrete experience –the neighborhood councils of Montevideo. The following is analyzed: a) The institutional design of these councils, b) The influence of these councils on the definition of public policies, c) Their operation as “citizenship schools,” and d) The levels of citizen support that they convoke. The conclusions of the study signal that design considerably limits the performance of neighborhood councils in terms of both the influence that they have in decision-making as well as the development of civic virtues and political capital. Thus, it is concluded that declines in participation over time is related to institutional.