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Overcoming Clientelism through Local Participatory Institutions in Mexico: What Type of Participation?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Françoise Montambeault
Françoise Montambeault*
Affiliation:
Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University. francoise_montambeault@brown.edu
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Abstract

This article addresses the relationship between institutionalized citizen participation at the municipal level and clientelism. It argues, contrary to what the literature has suggested, that the institutionalization of local citizen participation does not necessarily lead to the erosion of clientelism. Drawing on a comparative case study of participatory experiences in two Mexican municipalities, León and Nezahualcóyotl, this study argues that participation does matter, but that not all types of participation have the same effect on state-society relations. Institutional design is important in assessing the significance of popular participation in defining the relationship between the state and its citizens, but informal practices are even more important determinants of citizens' level of autonomy in institutionalized participatory mechanisms. This level of autonomy, in turn, determines the potential for such local institutions to become a means to overcome clientelism as the mechanism traditionally characterizing state-society relationships in Mexico.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Politics and Society , Volume 53 , Issue 1 , Spring 2011 , pp. 91 - 124
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 2011

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