Democracy and the Public Space in Latin America

Download or read book Democracy and the Public Space in Latin America written by Leonardo Avritzer and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Unlike many theorists, Avritzer builds his case empirically. He looks at human rights movements in Argentina and Brazil, neighbourhood associations in Brazil and Mexico and election-monitoring initiatives in Mexico. Contending that such participation has not gone far enough, he proposes a way to involve citizens even more directly in policy decisions. For example, he points to experiments in "participary budgeting" in two Brazilian cities. Ultimatley, the concept of such a space beyond the reach of democratic possibility, of the cultural transformation that spurred it, and of the tensions that persist, in a region where democracy is both new and different from the Old World models.