Virtually all the press coverage and US public attention to Latin America focuses on either natural catastrophes or “threatening” political leaders, particularly highly verbal ones –think Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. But many matters of longer-run importance seldom achieve news headlines. The prime example is the unprecedented increase in the number and power of social movements and political engagement by the formerly powerless. It can be argued that this phenomenon explains most of recent Latin American political developments.
Civil Society and Social Movements –just published in both English and Spanish by the Inter-American Development Bank–gets inside some of the most important contemporary activist groups shaping public policy in Latin America. Citizen organizations working with the indigenous people, the rural poor, women, victims of human rights violations are examined in depth by academic and activist specialists. The essays chronicle how citizens mobilized to turn out the “soft dictatorship” of Mexico, and to fight political corruption with “participatory budgeting” movements. In contrast, programs to “house the poor” in Chile are shown to be abject failures after they deliberately excluded the participation of the “beneficiary” groups. In a look to the future, the book offers concrete proposals both on how to strengthen citizen organizations –particularly through building ties with the Latin diaspora—and how civil society can make greater contributions to employment generation and economic growth.
The challenge of the book was to explore how citizen activism has evolved in post-dictatorship Latin America. Under military rule, Latin Americans grew to distrust their governments and their traditional political parties. The studies ask whether, and how, the explosion in citizen organizations is achieving sustainable improvements in democratic institutions and development initiatives.
Civil Society and Social Movements: Building Sustainable Democracies in Latin America is available on Amazon. Bulk orders can be arranged directly with Inter-American Development Bank.
Table of Contents
Ambassador Yriart: A Dedication
Enrique V. Iglesias
Preface
Chapter 1: Building Sustainable Democracies in Latin America
Arthur Domike
Section I
CSOS IN ACHIEVING DEMOCRACY
Arthur Domike
Chapter 2: Recapturing Democracy in Brazil, Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay
Arthur Domike
Chapter 3: Human Rights Organizations in Guatemala: An Evaluation
Rosa María Cruz López
Section II
CSOS IN CONSOLIDATING DEMOCRACY
Arthur Domike
Chapter 4: The Mexican Civic Alliance: A Progressive Movement Seeking an Identity
Sergio Aguayo Quezada
Chapter 5: Participatory Budgeting from Above and Below: Civil Society’s Role in the Spread of Democratic Institutions
Benjamin Reames
Section III
CSOS IN DEEPENING DEMOCRACY
Arthur Domike
Chapter 6: Social Movements of the Rural Poor and Their Contributions to Democratization
John Durston
Chapter 7: Indigenous Movements, Empowerment, and the Advance of Democracy
Charles David Kleymeyer
Chapter 8: The “Y Ikatu Xingu” Campaign in Mato Grosso State (Brazil)
Lincoln Avelino de Barros and Marie-Madeleine Mailleux Sant’Ana
Chapter 9: The Emperor’s New Clothes: Social Housing Financing Policies in Santiago, Chile
Alfredo Rodríguez and Ana Sugranyes
Chapter 10: Latin American Women in Movement: Changing Politics, Changing Minds
Joan M. Caivano and Thayer Hardwick
Chapter 11: CSO Roles in Incorporating the Poor and Indigent in the Benefits of Development
Roberto Sansón Mizrahi
Chapter 12: Promoting Citizen Participation and Support for CSOs in the Transnational Economy
Nelson Stratta
Chapter 13: Citizen Engagement and Democracy in the Age of Social Movements
Arthur Domike
Annex
Regarding the Authors
Reviews
- Santiago Friedman, World Bank (Retired)
- Enrique Iglesias, President Inter-American Development Bank, 1988-2005; Secretary-general of the Ibero-American Cooperation Secretariat, 2005-
- Carolina Tohá, member, Chilean House of Deputies
- Anthony Bebbington, Professor of Nature, Society and Development, University of Manchester, UK
- Louis Wolf Goodman, Dean, School of International Service, American University, Washington DC
- Gabriel Murillo Castaño, Professor, Universidad de los Andes, Bogota, Colombia