The Participation of Civil Society Organizations in Public Policies in Latin America

Bibliographic Data

ID12249488
AuthorsAlberto Hernández Baqueiro (0000-0002-3800-220X, corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume27
Issue1
Pages86-104
Publication date2015-04-13
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueVoluntas Revista Internacional de Filosofia (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2179-3786 • E-ISSN: 1573-7888
PublisherSpringer Science+Business Media (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1007/s11266-015-9573-3
OpenAlexW2091490787
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited13

Throughout Latin America, the relationship between government and civil society organizations (CSOs) has been characterized by opposition, substitution, and submission; and, the incipient path to cooperation is barely noticeable. For their part, participatory public policies make sense within a theory of democratic governance. Democratic governance seeks two propositions: (a) participation from other social actors will give rise to more efficient government action; and (b) citizen support will emerge from the said government action. This paper criticizes the current relationships between the governments and CSOs in this region. In addition, it explores the potential strategies that could be adopted were there a cooperation between these two entities. The paper is supported by theoretical literature as well as by a revision of some cases of participatory public policies that are currently active in the region. The paper proposes that the strategies of opposition to government and government substitution have to be abandoned in this region. The paper focuses on civil organizations (CSOs). It is true that they do not constitute the entirety of civil society; however, they are frequently the most organized compared with other civic actors, such as social movements, families, and individual initiatives. CSOs form only a part of the diversity known as civil society; however, they significantly contribute to the discussion about the public good, and very often they participate in providing such goods. The future of participatory democracy in Latin America is related to our ability to achieve a more complete participation of CSOs in the entire process of participatory public policies—from the formation of public agendas to their design, implementation, and evaluation

Citizen journalism · Civil society · Corporate governance · Democracy · Economics · Government (linguistics · Management · Opposition (politics · Participatory budgeting · Political science · Politics · Public participation · Social movement · Sociology · Community Development and Social Impact · E-Government and Public Services · Law · Public Administration · Public Policy and Administration Research

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub