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The new democracies of Latin America that emerged with the third wave of democratization have now completed their transitions and have reached an advanced stage of their consolidation processes, despite alleged ‘deficiencies’ taken as indicative of imperfect institutionalization and inadequate government performance. Efforts to evaluate democratic quality have been taken as insufficient to capture Latin America’s cultural diversity and political identities. In particular, forms of participation beyond elections and political parties, and spaces of deliberation beyond legislative bodies escape analysis and are not taken into consideration by the traditional measurements. In recent years, it has become gradually acknowledged that participatory mechanisms and deliberative bodies are an integral part of Latin America’s democratization process. The speed with which participatory innovations are multiplied and institutionalized in several countries indicates an urge to incorporate them into the region’s account of democracy. This seminar will propose a rereading of Latin America’s democratization process, taking into account the experimentation with participation and deliberation that increasingly characterizes democracy in the region. The course will alternate theoretical readings about the left turn, decentralization, political reform and social justice in Latin America, with empirical case studies on specific countries, new participatory institutional designs and their impact. |
