12
The Political Returns of Democratic Governance
In the past the absence of democratic governance mechanisms and civil
society meant that there were no brakes on political swings toward
populism and authoritarianism. That has changed and the fact that it
is particularly vibrant at the local level gives democratic governance a
deeper and more organic grounding.
Second, strong and effective instruments of governance are anchored
to the institutionalization that occurs at the local level. There is a direct
relationship between the successes outlined in figure 3 and the likelihood
that governance nationally will be influenced. Or to put the argument
in the reverse, national government directives or broadly themed civil
society initiatives can energize efforts toward democratic governance,
yet grassroots citizen engagement and sustained, effective, local
democratic governance allows the process to build roots and strength.
In environments where national institutions have been skewed by
populist and anti-democratic machinations, such as Venezuela under
Hugo Chavez, the only recourse for the reconstruction of a democratic
society is through a bottom-up process. Autocratic governments are
fearful of localized citizen initiatives as well as corresponding examples
of effective governance that respond to local interest, not dictates
framed by the central government.
Third, although not easy to operationalize programmatically, the
success of one community becomes a model to another—there is a
demonstration effect
at play. This is a key to the conundrum faced by
those engaged in governance programs where replication across dozens
or hundreds of communities is impractical. The Colombian and
Mexican cases outlined in figure 3 are anchored to effective networking,
communication, and monitoring of the work done in one community
so that it spreads to others. Civil society plays a key role in this regard,
particularly in an environment where communications technologies
are becoming more widely accessible. More broadly, the successes of
democratic governance nationally can alter the image positively of an
entire nation. And arguably, this can have an impact on the region
as a whole. For all of the significant imperfections of their respective
records of governance since the 1980s, Chile and Brazil, and the more
