Participatory Innovation and Representative Democracy in Latin America

This empirically grounded collection examines the growth of participatory institutions in Latin American democracy and how such institutions affect representative government. While most existing literature concentrates on model cases of participatory budgeting in Brazil, this volume investigates cases in Mexico, Bolivia, Chile, Brazil, and Argentina, where conditions for innovation have been far less favorable. The contributors, while recognizing the important differences and potential clashes between participatory and representative forms of democracy, ultimately favor participation, emphasizing its capacity to enhance and strengthen representative democracy.

Andrew D. Selee is director of the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute. Enrique Peruzzotti is a professor of political science at Torcuato Di Tella University in Buenos Aires and was a fellow at the Wilson Center in 2003–2004. The contributions to this book grew out of a two-year study featuring two central workshops in Washington, D.C., as well as a series of seminars held in the home countries of key participants.