Democratizing the State

Social Accountability and Social Control Regimes in Mexico and Brazil

Ernesto Isunza Vera, Adrian Gurza Lavalle

• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Year: 2024
• eBook ISBN: 9783111062853
• Edition: 0
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Politics
• Index: Social Sciences

Democratic institution-building experiences, innovative forms of social organization, and the development of multiple state-society interfaces represent a significant political phenomenon in Latin America in the last half-century. By comparing the two largest countries of the subcontinent, Brazil and Mexico, Democratizing the State examines social accountability and social control regimes.

These regimes are conceived configurations of relationships between actors, organizational structures, norms, and resources, all arranged in a stable and institutionalized manner to exert social control over state actors and functions. The book addresses the contrasting characteristics and different functions through which the citizenry and civil society exert control over state action in both countries. Characterizing these experiences broadly as regimes is novel and enlightening regarding the work of practitioners and scholars on political participation, social accountability, and democracy in the global South and the global North.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword: Participatory institutions and democratic governance
• List of Acronyms
• Introduction: Democratization of the State and Regimes of Social Control in Mexico and Brazil
• Chapter 1 Democratic Control of the State: Why Does it Matter?
• Chapter 2 From Social Accountability to Social Control Regimes
• Chapter 3 Social Control Regimes in Mexico and Brazil as Sociopolitical Configurations
• Chapter 4 The Prevalent Experiences and Social Control Regimes in Mexico and Brazil
• Chapter 5 Exemplary Cases. Policy Management Councils, Committees of the Contraloría Social, and National Consultative Councils
• Conclusion