Programme

9,00‐9,15: Registration

9,15‐9,30: Welcome and introduction of theme and speakers (Preben Kaarsholm)

9,30‐10,15: Claudio Fuentes, ‘Contesting the Iron Fist: Public Safety and Civil Society in Democratic Latin America’

10,15‐10,30: Coffee

10,30‐11,15: Alberto J. Olvera, ‘Mexico: Political Parties, Democratic Institutions and Civil Society in a Failed Transition to Democracy’

11,15‐12,00: Carlos de la Torre, ‘The Contested Meanings of Democracy, Populism, and Democracy in the Andes’

12,00‐13,00: Lunch

13,15‐14,00: Ciska Raventos, ‘Challenges to Democratic Representation in Latin America’

14,00‐14,45: Enrique Peruzzotti, ‘Participatory Innovation and Representative Democracy in Latin America’

14,45‐15,00: Thomas P. Boje, Concluding remarks

Presentations

Claudio Fuentes

Contesting the Iron Fist: Public Safety and Civil Society in Democratic Latin America

This presentation addresses the lack of advancement in both the actual protection of citizens’ rights and institutional democratic reforms of the security sector. I argue that this is due to a complex and intertwined set of political conditions. Three set of conditions are key: (a) the political context (institutional and political constraints and opportunities), (b) social perceptions and demands on security, and (c) the institutional development of the security forces. While policymakers and academics focus mostly on observing security institutions, I claim that before observing such relevant organizations, we need to look at a broader set of incentives and constraints within the political system. The challenge for civil society groups is how to advance a pro civil rights agenda under such an unwelcoming set of incentives.

Alberto J. Olvera

Mexico: Political Parties, Democratic Institutions and Civil Society in a Failed Transition to Democracy

The Mexican transition to democracy has not been completed in terms of both the destitution of the authoritarian regime and the instauration of the democratic regime, a situation that explains the continuity of authoritarian practices and culture in public life. Democratic political parties have lacked alternative political projects and have been riddled with internal conflict; civil society has been weak and its popular sectors suffered important defeats along the process. Democratic innovations have been scarce and the few interesting are at risk. The creation of new social and political actors, as well as new public spaces seems urgent and necessary to counter the paradoxical combination of depolitisation of public life and over‐politisation of democratic institutions the country suffer nowadays, leading to a simultaneous crisis of representation and of governability.

Carlos de la Torre

The Contested Meanings of Democracy, Populism, and Democracy in the Andes

A specter is haunting Latin America: radical populism. In contrast to the apocalyptic warnings of the media analysts and politicians we have an accumulated knowledge of populism that can help us arrive to more nuanced conclusions about its relationships to democracy. Over the last three decades we have seen a renaissance of studies. If previous scholarship based on modernization and dependency theories tied populism to specific economic and social forces, this new wave of research has uncoupled politics from what were understood as deeper structural determinants. Scholars have shown that populism is not necessarily linked to the transition to modernity or to import‐substitution industrialization. The unexpected affinities between populism and neoliberalism have stimulated research on the politics of structural adjustment under neo‐populist leadership. More recently, the nationalist and anti‐imperialist rhetoric of Presidents Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, Evo Morales of Bolivia, and Rafael Correa of Ecuador have provoked passionate debates on whether or not we are experiencing a rebirth of radical‐national populism. Behind the smoke screen provoked by the praise for national populism or its condemnation we can identify important debates over the meanings and interpretations of democracy. Populism has been an important democratizing force that has mobilized those previously excluded. It has incorporated common people into the political community. However, the distinctiveness of these processes of inclusion and democratization needs to be specified. What are the forms of political participation and representation privileged by populism? How is democracy understood by the friends and foes of populism? What are the effects of populist rhetoric for the democratization of society? Why do common folk continue to support populist leaders?

Ciska Raventos

Challenges to Democratic Representation in Latin America

I claim that the two main challenges to democratic representation in Latin America today are the overcoming of "delegative democracy" (O´Donnell, ) that is firmly embedded in the political culture and in political institutions, and the social and political exclusion of important social and ethnic groups. Civil society struggles can become an important site for the creation of shared discourses and practices of citizenship. In this lecture I look at these issues through the movement in opposition of CAFTA (Central American Free Trade Agreement) that took place between 2005 and 2007 in Costa Rica and that led to a referendum in October 2007.

Enrique Peruzzotti

Participatory Innovation and Representative Democracy in Latin America

Presentation of the book: Participatory Innovation and Representative Democracy in Latin America. Co‐edited by Andrew Selee and Enrique Peruzzotti. With chapters by Marcus Andre Melo, Anny Rivera‐Ottenberger, Roberto Laserna, Enrique Peruzzotti, and Andrew Selee. Published by the Woodrow Wilson Center Press and the Johns Hopkins University Press, October 2009. The last democratizing wave in Latin America has been followed by a considerable amount of democratic innovation and experimentation that has been overlooked by mainstream literature which concentrates on the workings of traditional institutions at the national level. New channels of citizen participation have been opened in many of the new democracies, particularly at the local level. The presentation will consist on a general overview of some of the issues that the newly created participatory mechanisms raise for the analysis of democratic representation.