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The Role of Government in Institutionalizing Democratic Governance
governments and local actors have begun cleaning the city, replacing
streetlights and forming block committees that share responsibility
as neighborhood watchdog personnel. All of these initiatives have
contributed to a deterrence of criminal activity.
As to how citizen participation can be used as an effective mechanism
to foster collaboration between government, average citizens and
other local actors, it is relevant to reflect on an observation made by
Pedro Afonso del Pino in “Participation as an Element of an Active
Civil Society” about “authentic participation.” Del Pino points to the
distinction between “authentic participation” which is used as a means
to influence policy processes and other participatory activities that
are, in reality, used to create a “democratic” appearance for a specific,
governmentally determined outcome. He states “participation that
is managed, guided, or tied to the interests of government or any
determined political group is no longer participation but rather an
orchestrated partisan manifestation foreign to the citizenry.” This
masquerade can be detrimental to citizen confidence in governmental
processes and institutions.
When looking at Latin America in search of participatory models,
especially best practices to be replicated, it is increasingly important
to take heed of Del Pino’s observation. As local and international
actors work to deepen the democratic culture of the Americas through
increased collaboration between governments and constituents, it is
ultimately the distinction between meaningful participation and
artificial participatory exercises that can and will play a fundamental
role in the success of these efforts.
The Relationship Between Government and Media
Media plays an important role in any society, often serving as a
primary vehicle for the exchange of information while also operating
as a watchdog over the actions of a variety of actors in a given
community. Making use of the many different platforms that exist
in this contemporary age for the exchange of information, media has
