The Two Faces of Institutional Innovation: Promises and Limits of Democratic Participation in Latin America

Many democratic theorists have viewed the recent innovations adopted throughout Latin America in a positive light. This evaluation has engendered the idea that all innovations are democratic and all democratic innovations are able to foster citizenship. Presenting a realistic analysis of both the positive and negative aspects of innovation, this book argues that these innovations ought to be examined at the intersection between design and the political system.

The Two Faces of Institutional Innovation offers a new perspective on developments such as participatory budgeting, the National Electoral Institute (INE) and the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) in Mexico and comités de vigilancia in Bolivia, and evaluates the extent to which, in reality, citizens were involved in decision-making, distributive policies and citizen education. Further chapters also examine the expansion of innovation to the field of judicial institutions - one of the key areas in which innovation took place in Latin America, showing that the role of legal corporations in democracy cannot be compared with the role of engaged citizens.

Contemporary and astute, this book will captivate students and scholars researching in the areas of innovation policy and regulatory governance. Its analysis of the positive and negative aspects of democratic innovation will also benefit democratic theorists and policy-makers alike.

Leonardo Avritzer, Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Brazil