posted on 2024-09-06, 07:17authored byPeter P. Houtzager, Adrián Gurza Lavalle
The growth of participatory governance has had the unintended consequence of
spawning complex new forms of political representation. The participatory
governance structures that have emerged alongside classic institutions of
representative democracy encompass not only direct citizen participation but also
political representation by civil society (collective) actors. Using original data from
Brazil, we show that many of these collective actors engage in what we call
‘assumed representation’. In contrast to political parties and labour unions, these
actors lack widely accepted and historically consolidated mechanisms through
which their publics can authorise representation or ensure accountability and
responsiveness. In particular, most do not rely on formal electoral or membership
mechanisms. This layer of collective actors therefore faces a historic challenge –
the construction of novel notions of democratic legitimacy that can support their
forms of representation. The survival of the democratising current of which they
are a part depends in some measure on how this challenge is met. We examine
what new notions of representations are emerging in participatory governance
structures and trace the historic roots of the most widespread and promising, that
focus on remedying inequality in access to the state.
Keywords: participatory governance; political representation; democracy;
accountability; civil society; citizen participation.
History
Publisher
IDS
Citation
Houtzager, P.P. & A. Gurza Lavalle (2009) Participatory governance and the challenge of assumed representation in Brazil. Working paper series, 321. Brighton: IDS.