The pobladores and local democracy in Chile : the case of El Bosque and Peñalolén

Abstract

(cont.) models of local governance, questioning blanket statements about the virtues of political decentralization. The managerial elitist" model favors individual participation and technical/centralized decision-making that precludes public deliberation. It hardly engages the pobladores' organizations in the local polity and policymaking, fostering organizational fragmentation, selective deactivation and cientism. The "participatory-deliberative" style combines innovative adaptation of public policies to "fit" the local demand, extensive use of networks and public forums. It generates pre-political spaces that pave the way for the pobladores' organizations to scale-up decisionmaking in the local government or along policy networks at higher levels.

In the 1990's, two state reforms in Chile placed the grassroots organizations of the pobladores--the once powerful urban squatters' movement--in a unique position to use their organizational experience in self-govenment and small-scale service delivery. Decentralization endowed the municipalities with enhanced resources and authority and new decentralized social policies demanded community participation. This favorable context was offset by institutional constraints on the national political system and by the mayor-centric and managerial design of the new municipality, both rooted in the authoritarian era (1973-1990). In addition, social policy was framed by a technocratic logic that discouraged participation. Two claims guided the investigation of the pobladores' incorporation into the local polity. In spite of a common managerial/efficiency driven formula for local administration, the style of governance has a decisive impact on the way in which organized interests are incorporated. Second, social policies are key arenas of incorporation In-depth case studies were conducted in El Bosque and Peñalolén. These municipalities share demographic and socioeconomic traits, but sharply differ in their model of governance El Bosque's actively incorporates organized participation, while Peñalolén embraces a managerial approach. From 1994-2000, over a hundred local and central state officials; politicians and grassroots leaders were interviewed. Data on social organizations, voting patterns, laws on decentralization, political institutions and social policies--education, health, and housing--covers the period between 1994 and 2000. Thepobdonrs' history is traced from the 1950s. The findings confirm the different patterns of incorporation fostered by these