Benjamin Goldfrank
Biographic Data
| ID | 277773 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Benjamin Goldfrank |
| GIVEN NAMES | Benjamin |
| FAMILY NAME | Goldfrank |
| SIGNATURE | GOLDFRANK B |
| AFFILIATIONS | Seton Hall University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1823-2259 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 25 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 103 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 25 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2002 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
More” or “Better” Institutionalization? Lessons From Latin American Institutions of Citizen Participation
The longstanding debate around the trade-offs of formalizing institutions of citizen participation (ICPs) within legal frameworks is currently facing a revival with the spread of citizens’ assemblies. Among arguments in favour of “more” institutionalization, the expectation that it will protect ICPs from eventual political changes stands out. Among arguments against institutionalization, the fear of crystallizing certain “recipes” translates conc…
Politólogas, Las Revistas Académicas Y Sus ‘Gatekeepers’
Los estudios recientes dedicados a la ciencia política latinoamericana han tenido por principal objeto de investigación la institucionalización de la disciplina. Se ha avanzado mucho en el conocimiento de este tema, pero sin apenas incluir la perspectiva de género. Para incluirla, este artículo (1) estima la presencia de profesoras de ciencia política en 107 departamentos de 16 países de la región y (2) en los equipos y (3) consejos editoriales d…
Running Democracy into the Ground
Lula and His Politics of Cunning: From Metalworker to President of Brazil
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the former lathe operator, union leader, and head of the largest leftist political party in the Western Hemisphere, is once again president of Brazil. The 2022 campaign was his seventh, having lost three times, winning twice and serving two terms, and being (illegally) disqualified in the 2018 race that brought a hard-right devotee of military dictatorship, Jair Bolsonaro, to power. John French's excellent, award-winnin…
Researching the Gap: Women in Latin American Political Science
This paper maps the gender balance in the discipline of political science in Latin America by examining data from 16 countries where we could find the number of female professors in political science departments (over 100 departments) as well as from 69 journals publishing political science research in Latin America and from 16 Latin Americanist journals in Canada, the United States, and Europe. We compare the proportion of female political scien…
El presupuesto participativo digital y la cuestión de la deliberación: El caso de “Decide Madrid”
This article analyzes the emblematic case of digital participatory budgeting in Madrid, that took place between 2016 to 2019, known as “Decide Madrid”. The online platform “Consul” created by Madrid’s City Hall for Decide Madrid and other digital citizen participation mechanisms, was awarded by the United Nations and shared with dozens of cities around the world to implement their own digital participatory budgets. This document asks whether the …
Scaling-Up and Zooming-Out: Understanding How and When Participatory Institutions Matter
The three books reviewed here represent a new generation of rigorous scholarship on participatory institutions (PIs). They demonstrate that – under certain conditions – it is possible to build large-scale PIs that strengthen democratic governance and improve citizens' lives. Nonetheless, significant challenges remain. Due in part to the absence of either high-quality national-level comparative data or fine-grained subnational data, and in part to…
The Systemic Turn and Participatory Budgeting: The Case of Rio Grande do Sul
Participatory budgeting (PB) has been one of the most popular local democratic reforms in Latin America in recent decades. This article examines what happened to PB when it was scaled up to the state level and integrated in a participatory system in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil (2011-14). Using theories of deliberative systems, multichannel participation, 'venue shopping' (the practice of seeking the most favourable policy venue) and countervailing …
Sistemas Participativos en Brasil Y Venezuela: Orígenes Y Ocasos De Dos Modelos
Dentro de la gama de reformas enfocadas en la inclusión de los ciudadanos en América Latina, hay una grande variedad en términos de escopo, contenido, implementación y impacto real de estas experiencias. Este artículo compara los casos do Brasil y Venezuela, que fueron considerados modelos ejemplares en el campo de la democracia participativa por diferentes observadores, para indagar como e porque varían sus sistemas participativos en sus diseños…
Deepening Local Democracy in Latin America: Participation, Decentralization, and the Left
The resurgence of the Left in Latin America over the past decade has been so notable that it has been called "the Pink Tide." In recent years, regimes with leftist leaders have risen to power in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Uruguay, and Venezuela. What does this trend portend for the deepening of democracy in the region? Benjamin Goldfrank has been studying the development of participatory democracy in Latin…
Deepening Local Democracy in Latin America: Participation, Decentralization, and the Left
"Addresses the question of why institutions meant to attract citizen participation succeed in strengthening civil society and improving state responsiveness and transparency in some places, but fail in others. Focuses on urban politics in Porto Alegre (Brazil), Montevideo (Uruguay), and Caracas (Venezuela)"--Provided by publisher.
Reinventing the left in the Global South: The politics of the possible
Steve Ellner, Latin America's Radical Left: Challenges and Complexities of Political Power in the Twenty-First Century
This Land is Ours Now: Social Mobilization and the Meanings of Land in Brazil - by Wolford, Wendy
Los Consejos Comunales: Avance o retroceso para la democracia venezolana
El presente artculo aborda el debate en torno a los consejos comunales de Venezuela, un mecanismo de participacin ciudadana promovido por el gobierno de Hugo Chvez con especial fuerza a partir de 2005. Luego de exponer brevemente su historia y principales caractersticas institucionales, describe la produccin acadmica en torno al tema, identificando dos perspectivas contrapuestas: una que reivindica sus potencialidades democratizadoras, y otra que…
The World Bank and the Globalization of Participatory Budgeting
This article addresses the long-standing controversy over the World Bank’s role in the promotion of participatory budgeting (PB). Some on the left have celebrated the Bank’s funding and advocacy for PB as signifying the legitimacy or mainstream success of the process, while others see the Bank’s endorsement of PB as a sign that participatory budgeting is becoming watered down and losing its transformative potential, if it ever had such potential.…
Church, State, and Human Rights in Latin America
Latin America's military dictatorships in the 1970s produced some of the worst human rights abuses in the Americas in the twentieth century. The Catholic Church was positioned to denounce the repression, yet the episcopacy's reaction varied by country. Why? In critiquing a prominent claim that competition from Protestant sects was the primary source of this variation, the article argues instead that the history of Church–state relations in a give…
Debate: Neoliberalism and local governance: global contrasts and research priorities
Today, neoliberalism has become a key reference point for many critical analyses of contemporary local governance. Of course, there remain the occasional ‘neoliberalism deniers’ who claim to find a lack of coherence in the concept, and perhaps rather more who give a cursory nod to neoliberalism without really engaging substantively. But for many others neoliberalism (or, better, the process of neoliberalisation) provides a conceptual foundation f…
Intellectuals and Left Politics in Uruguay, 1958-2006: Frustrated Dialogue - by Gregory, Stephen
Municipal Neoliberalism and Municipal Socialism: Urban Political Economy in Latin America
The following article identifies two different urban policy regimes in Latin America - neoliberal and socialist - and traces their origins to the distinct interests and capacities of local elites and activists in the region's cities in the mid-to-late twentieth century. While agricultural and commercial interests paid a high price for the growth of import-substituting industrialization, and therefore deployed free trade zones (and similar institu…
Social Movements and State Power: Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador
Social Movements and State Power: Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador. By James Petras and Henry Veltmeyer. Ann Arbor, MI: Pluto Press, 2005. 288p. $90.00 cloth, $29.95 paper. Anyone interested in the recent renewal of social movement activity and the rise of ostensibly left or center-left governments in Latin America might be tempted to pick up this book, with its provocative jacket photo and appealing title. Unfortunately, the book cover is nea…
Los Procesos De "Presupuesto Participativo" en América Latina: Éxito, Fracaso Y Cambio
los procesos de "presupuesto participativo" en américa latina: éxito, fracaso y cambio
Competitive Institution Building: The PT and Participatory Budgeting in Rio Grande do Sul
In the late 1990s, the Workers' Party (PT) government of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul introduced participatory budgeting, a process in which citizens establish annual investment priorities in public assemblies. This innovation was one of several attempts by incumbent parties to structure political conflict using budget institutions. The character of participatory budgeting is most evident in its policymaking processes and policy outco…
Participatory Democracy versus Elitist Democracy: Lessons from Brazil (review)
The Fragile Flower of Local Democracy: A Case Study of Decentralization/Participation in Montevideo
This article analyzes the decentralization/participation (DP) program implemented by the Frente Amplio (FA) in the municipal government of Montevideo. Based on original surveys, interviews, and direct observation, the article argues that the DP program contributed to improvements in city services by providing the government with better information about citizens' needs and preferences, but failed to boost civic engagement among city residents bec…
Municipal Neoliberalism and Municipal Socialism: Urban Political Economy in Latin America
The following article identifies two different urban policy regimes in Latin America - neoliberal and socialist - and traces their origins to the distinct interests and capacities of local elites and activists in the region's cities in the mid-to-late twentieth century. While agricultural and commercial interests paid a high price for the growth of import-substituting industrialization, and therefore deployed free trade zones (and similar institu…
Los Procesos De "Presupuesto Participativo" en América Latina: Éxito, Fracaso Y Cambio
los procesos de "presupuesto participativo" en américa latina: éxito, fracaso y cambio
The Fragile Flower of Local Democracy: A Case Study of Decentralization/Participation in Montevideo
This article analyzes the decentralization/participation (DP) program implemented by the Frente Amplio (FA) in the municipal government of Montevideo. Based on original surveys, interviews, and direct observation, the article argues that the DP program contributed to improvements in city services by providing the government with better information about citizens' needs and preferences, but failed to boost civic engagement among city residents bec…
Competitive Institution Building: The PT and Participatory Budgeting in Rio Grande do Sul
In the late 1990s, the Workers' Party (PT) government of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul introduced participatory budgeting, a process in which citizens establish annual investment priorities in public assemblies. This innovation was one of several attempts by incumbent parties to structure political conflict using budget institutions. The character of participatory budgeting is most evident in its policymaking processes and policy outco…
Debate: Neoliberalism and local governance: global contrasts and research priorities
Today, neoliberalism has become a key reference point for many critical analyses of contemporary local governance. Of course, there remain the occasional ‘neoliberalism deniers’ who claim to find a lack of coherence in the concept, and perhaps rather more who give a cursory nod to neoliberalism without really engaging substantively. But for many others neoliberalism (or, better, the process of neoliberalisation) provides a conceptual foundation f…
Sistemas Participativos en Brasil Y Venezuela: Orígenes Y Ocasos De Dos Modelos
Dentro de la gama de reformas enfocadas en la inclusión de los ciudadanos en América Latina, hay una grande variedad en términos de escopo, contenido, implementación y impacto real de estas experiencias. Este artículo compara los casos do Brasil y Venezuela, que fueron considerados modelos ejemplares en el campo de la democracia participativa por diferentes observadores, para indagar como e porque varían sus sistemas participativos en sus diseños…
Church, State, and Human Rights in Latin America
Latin America's military dictatorships in the 1970s produced some of the worst human rights abuses in the Americas in the twentieth century. The Catholic Church was positioned to denounce the repression, yet the episcopacy's reaction varied by country. Why? In critiquing a prominent claim that competition from Protestant sects was the primary source of this variation, the article argues instead that the history of Church–state relations in a give…
Researching the Gap: Women in Latin American Political Science
This paper maps the gender balance in the discipline of political science in Latin America by examining data from 16 countries where we could find the number of female professors in political science departments (over 100 departments) as well as from 69 journals publishing political science research in Latin America and from 16 Latin Americanist journals in Canada, the United States, and Europe. We compare the proportion of female political scien…
Scaling-Up and Zooming-Out: Understanding How and When Participatory Institutions Matter
The three books reviewed here represent a new generation of rigorous scholarship on participatory institutions (PIs). They demonstrate that – under certain conditions – it is possible to build large-scale PIs that strengthen democratic governance and improve citizens' lives. Nonetheless, significant challenges remain. Due in part to the absence of either high-quality national-level comparative data or fine-grained subnational data, and in part to…
Los Consejos Comunales: Avance o retroceso para la democracia venezolana
El presente artculo aborda el debate en torno a los consejos comunales de Venezuela, un mecanismo de participacin ciudadana promovido por el gobierno de Hugo Chvez con especial fuerza a partir de 2005. Luego de exponer brevemente su historia y principales caractersticas institucionales, describe la produccin acadmica en torno al tema, identificando dos perspectivas contrapuestas: una que reivindica sus potencialidades democratizadoras, y otra que…
The Fragile Flower of Local Democracy: A Case Study of Decentralization/Participation in Montevideo
This article analyzes the decentralization/participation (DP) program implemented by the Frente Amplio (FA) in the municipal government of Montevideo. Based on original surveys, interviews, and direct observation, the article argues that the DP program contributed to improvements in city services by providing the government with better information about citizens' needs and preferences, but failed to boost civic engagement among city residents bec…
Participatory Democracy versus Elitist Democracy: Lessons from Brazil (review)
Los Procesos De "Presupuesto Participativo" en América Latina: Éxito, Fracaso Y Cambio
los procesos de "presupuesto participativo" en américa latina: éxito, fracaso y cambio
Competitive Institution Building: The PT and Participatory Budgeting in Rio Grande do Sul
In the late 1990s, the Workers' Party (PT) government of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul introduced participatory budgeting, a process in which citizens establish annual investment priorities in public assemblies. This innovation was one of several attempts by incumbent parties to structure political conflict using budget institutions. The character of participatory budgeting is most evident in its policymaking processes and policy outco…
Social Movements and State Power: Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador
Social Movements and State Power: Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador. By James Petras and Henry Veltmeyer. Ann Arbor, MI: Pluto Press, 2005. 288p. $90.00 cloth, $29.95 paper. Anyone interested in the recent renewal of social movement activity and the rise of ostensibly left or center-left governments in Latin America might be tempted to pick up this book, with its provocative jacket photo and appealing title. Unfortunately, the book cover is nea…
Municipal Neoliberalism and Municipal Socialism: Urban Political Economy in Latin America
The following article identifies two different urban policy regimes in Latin America - neoliberal and socialist - and traces their origins to the distinct interests and capacities of local elites and activists in the region's cities in the mid-to-late twentieth century. While agricultural and commercial interests paid a high price for the growth of import-substituting industrialization, and therefore deployed free trade zones (and similar institu…
Debate: Neoliberalism and local governance: global contrasts and research priorities
Today, neoliberalism has become a key reference point for many critical analyses of contemporary local governance. Of course, there remain the occasional ‘neoliberalism deniers’ who claim to find a lack of coherence in the concept, and perhaps rather more who give a cursory nod to neoliberalism without really engaging substantively. But for many others neoliberalism (or, better, the process of neoliberalisation) provides a conceptual foundation f…
Intellectuals and Left Politics in Uruguay, 1958-2006: Frustrated Dialogue - by Gregory, Stephen
The World Bank and the Globalization of Participatory Budgeting
This article addresses the long-standing controversy over the World Bank’s role in the promotion of participatory budgeting (PB). Some on the left have celebrated the Bank’s funding and advocacy for PB as signifying the legitimacy or mainstream success of the process, while others see the Bank’s endorsement of PB as a sign that participatory budgeting is becoming watered down and losing its transformative potential, if it ever had such potential.…
Church, State, and Human Rights in Latin America
Latin America's military dictatorships in the 1970s produced some of the worst human rights abuses in the Americas in the twentieth century. The Catholic Church was positioned to denounce the repression, yet the episcopacy's reaction varied by country. Why? In critiquing a prominent claim that competition from Protestant sects was the primary source of this variation, the article argues instead that the history of Church–state relations in a give…
This Land is Ours Now: Social Mobilization and the Meanings of Land in Brazil - by Wolford, Wendy
Los Consejos Comunales: Avance o retroceso para la democracia venezolana
El presente artculo aborda el debate en torno a los consejos comunales de Venezuela, un mecanismo de participacin ciudadana promovido por el gobierno de Hugo Chvez con especial fuerza a partir de 2005. Luego de exponer brevemente su historia y principales caractersticas institucionales, describe la produccin acadmica en torno al tema, identificando dos perspectivas contrapuestas: una que reivindica sus potencialidades democratizadoras, y otra que…
Deepening Local Democracy in Latin America: Participation, Decentralization, and the Left
The resurgence of the Left in Latin America over the past decade has been so notable that it has been called "the Pink Tide." In recent years, regimes with leftist leaders have risen to power in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Uruguay, and Venezuela. What does this trend portend for the deepening of democracy in the region? Benjamin Goldfrank has been studying the development of participatory democracy in Latin…
Deepening Local Democracy in Latin America: Participation, Decentralization, and the Left
"Addresses the question of why institutions meant to attract citizen participation succeed in strengthening civil society and improving state responsiveness and transparency in some places, but fail in others. Focuses on urban politics in Porto Alegre (Brazil), Montevideo (Uruguay), and Caracas (Venezuela)"--Provided by publisher.
Reinventing the left in the Global South: The politics of the possible
Steve Ellner, Latin America's Radical Left: Challenges and Complexities of Political Power in the Twenty-First Century
Sistemas Participativos en Brasil Y Venezuela: Orígenes Y Ocasos De Dos Modelos
Dentro de la gama de reformas enfocadas en la inclusión de los ciudadanos en América Latina, hay una grande variedad en términos de escopo, contenido, implementación y impacto real de estas experiencias. Este artículo compara los casos do Brasil y Venezuela, que fueron considerados modelos ejemplares en el campo de la democracia participativa por diferentes observadores, para indagar como e porque varían sus sistemas participativos en sus diseños…
Scaling-Up and Zooming-Out: Understanding How and When Participatory Institutions Matter
The three books reviewed here represent a new generation of rigorous scholarship on participatory institutions (PIs). They demonstrate that – under certain conditions – it is possible to build large-scale PIs that strengthen democratic governance and improve citizens' lives. Nonetheless, significant challenges remain. Due in part to the absence of either high-quality national-level comparative data or fine-grained subnational data, and in part to…
The Systemic Turn and Participatory Budgeting: The Case of Rio Grande do Sul
Participatory budgeting (PB) has been one of the most popular local democratic reforms in Latin America in recent decades. This article examines what happened to PB when it was scaled up to the state level and integrated in a participatory system in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil (2011-14). Using theories of deliberative systems, multichannel participation, 'venue shopping' (the practice of seeking the most favourable policy venue) and countervailing …
El presupuesto participativo digital y la cuestión de la deliberación: El caso de “Decide Madrid”
This article analyzes the emblematic case of digital participatory budgeting in Madrid, that took place between 2016 to 2019, known as “Decide Madrid”. The online platform “Consul” created by Madrid’s City Hall for Decide Madrid and other digital citizen participation mechanisms, was awarded by the United Nations and shared with dozens of cities around the world to implement their own digital participatory budgets. This document asks whether the …
Lula and His Politics of Cunning: From Metalworker to President of Brazil
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the former lathe operator, union leader, and head of the largest leftist political party in the Western Hemisphere, is once again president of Brazil. The 2022 campaign was his seventh, having lost three times, winning twice and serving two terms, and being (illegally) disqualified in the 2018 race that brought a hard-right devotee of military dictatorship, Jair Bolsonaro, to power. John French's excellent, award-winnin…
Researching the Gap: Women in Latin American Political Science
This paper maps the gender balance in the discipline of political science in Latin America by examining data from 16 countries where we could find the number of female professors in political science departments (over 100 departments) as well as from 69 journals publishing political science research in Latin America and from 16 Latin Americanist journals in Canada, the United States, and Europe. We compare the proportion of female political scien…
Politólogas, Las Revistas Académicas Y Sus ‘Gatekeepers’
Los estudios recientes dedicados a la ciencia política latinoamericana han tenido por principal objeto de investigación la institucionalización de la disciplina. Se ha avanzado mucho en el conocimiento de este tema, pero sin apenas incluir la perspectiva de género. Para incluirla, este artículo (1) estima la presencia de profesoras de ciencia política en 107 departamentos de 16 países de la región y (2) en los equipos y (3) consejos editoriales d…
Running Democracy into the Ground
More” or “Better” Institutionalization? Lessons From Latin American Institutions of Citizen Participation
The longstanding debate around the trade-offs of formalizing institutions of citizen participation (ICPs) within legal frameworks is currently facing a revival with the spread of citizens’ assemblies. Among arguments in favour of “more” institutionalization, the expectation that it will protect ICPs from eventual political changes stands out. Among arguments against institutionalization, the fear of crystallizing certain “recipes” translates conc…
Political science (23 works) · Politics (20 works) · Law (14 works) · Sociology (13 works) · Democracy (12 works) · Latin Americans (10 works) · Law (9 works) · Citizen journalism (8 works) · Economics (7 works) · Political economy (7 works)