In the past decade, Latin America has witnessed an explosion of institutions designed to encourage and channel popular participation in decision-making. Some of the governments behind these initiatives seek more efficient governance, while others have challenged the liberal representative model with a “radical” conception of participatory democracy. Participatory mechanisms in countries such as Venezuela and Ecuador provide opportunities for citizens from traditionally marginalized sectors to engage in politics. These institutions, however, may simultaneously promote more inclusive decision-making while establishing parameters around the scope of democratic participation. The intention of “radical” participatory mechanisms may be to strengthen citizenship as agency, but the design of these mechanisms appears to be tipping the balance toward controlled inclusion. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, this research suggests that democratic regression and democratic deepening should not always be considered binary, mutually exclusive categories but can coexist and interact at different levels.
