Participatory Democracy? Exploring Peru's Efforts to Engage Civil
Participatory Democracy? Exploring Peru’s Efforts to Engage Civil Society in Local Governance Stephanie McNulty ABSTRACT As institutions are created to engage citizens and civil society organizations more directly, who participates, and what effect does participation have? This article explores two of Peru’s participatory institutions, the Regional Coordination Councils and the participatory budgets, created in 2002. Specifically it asks, once these institutions are set up, do organizations participate in them? and what effect does this participation have on the organizations? The data show that the participatory processes in Peru are including new voices in decisionmaking, but this inclusion has limits. Limited inclu- sion has, in turn, led to limited changes specifically in nongovernmental organizations. As a result, the democratizing potential of the participatory institutions is evident yet not fully realized. s institutions are created around Latin America to engage citizens and civil soci- Aety organizations directly, who participates? What effect does this participation have? Increasingly, local, regional, and national governments around Latin America are designing new institutions that allow citizens and civil society organizations (CSOs) to participate directly in policy decisionmaking with voice and vote. Partic- ipatory institutions (or PIs), such as development councils, participatory perform- ance monitoring, and participatory budgets, have been implemented around the region in countries such as Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Peru.1 Often, these institutions are created to complement existing representative democratic institu- tions that are failing to meet the needs and demands of citizens. Reformers hope to increase transparency and accountability, as well as to encourage a more active and engaged civil society.
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