This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution/NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
International Public License - CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-
sa/4.0/legalcode.es
Sinergias educativas
October - December Vol. 6 – 4 - 2021
http://sinergiaseducativas.mx/index.php/revista/
eISSN: 2661-6661
revistasinergia@soyuo.mx
Pag 138-148
Received: March 21, 2021
Approved: June 10, 2021
Civic participation and interactions with
different levels of Government:
National and international
Participación cívica e interacciones con los diferentes
niveles de gobierno: Nacional e internacional
Fátima Chávez Alcaraz
*
Abstract
States have promoted many instruments of citizen participation at different
levels of government. In most cases, local spheres were granted as a
privilege to involve citizens in public decision-making. Simultaneously,
we can see how citizens organize themselves in civil society, associations
and NGOs, through which they aspire to collaborate and find support for
their actions at the international level and thus influence decisions made
within States. This paper is situated in the context of Latin American
democracies and aims to analyze citizen participation from two
perspectives: the institutional (States) and the international or non-
institutional.
Keywords: Citizens, government, rulers, institutions and democracy.
Resumen
Los Estados han promovido muchos instrumentos de participación
ciudadana en diferentes niveles de gobierno. En la mayoría de los
casos, las esferas locales se otorgaron como un privilegio para
involucrar a los ciudadanos en la toma de decisiones públicas.
* Doctora, Ayuntamiento de Colima, México
believe.autoliderazgo@gmail.com
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9753-0531
Article
Sinergias educativas
October - December Vol. 6 – 4 - 2021
http://sinergiaseducativas.mx/index.php/revista/
139
Simultáneamente, podemos ver cómo los ciudadanos se organizan
en la sociedad civil, asociaciones y ONG, a través de las cuales
aspiran a colaborar y encontrar apoyo para sus acciones a escala
internacional y por tanto incidir en las decisiones que se toman al
interior de los Estados. Este documento se sitúa en el contexto de las
democracias latinoamericanas y tiene como objetivo analizar la
participación ciudadana desde dos perspectivas: la institucional
(Estados) y la internacional o no institucional.
Palabras clave: Ciudadanos, gobierno, gobernantes, instituciones y
democracia
Introduction
Citizen participation arises towards the government in the inverted
movement that interacts in many cases with international
organizations. For the purposes of this document, I will analyze the
actions taken at the international level. The use of both perspectives
is directed at a common component: Actively participating citizens
supposedly strengthen democracy within their states, and examining
the forms of social organization that are conducive to rebuilding the
links between citizens and government, in order to reap the benefits
that democracy has.
One of the foundations of democracy is participation, traditionally
enshrined by the voting and party system. Certainly, voting as part
of the democratic system is fundamental and essentially positive, the
criticism revolves around what are the scope and conditions under
which you are voting (Aguilar, 2014) in terms of the ability to
guarantee that States issue on equal terms and respect for human
rights.
From this perspective, I consider it necessary to distinguish between
procedural democracy and substantive democracy. The procedural
aspect of democracy is established in the rule of law, that is, the
institutional arrangement to arrive at political decisions in which
individuals acquire the power to decide through a competitive
struggle for the will of the people. The procedural vision of
democracy focuses solely on how the government is chosen, that is,
the election and political participation (Revelez, 2017). This concept
ignores the basic conditions to guarantee that all rights are
guaranteed.
Sinergias educativas
October - December Vol. 6 – 4 - 2021
http://sinergiaseducativas.mx/index.php/revista/
140
Unlike substantive democracy is understood as a series of human
rights and social goods reinforced not only through the process of
choosing their leaders but through a series of guaranteed social
goods.
Materials y method
The present investigation uses the analytical method, which implies
a comprehensive understanding, an extensive description of the
situation through a joint analysis and within its context. This
methodology, widely used in the social sciences, is appropriate in
cases where you want to know how or why something happens,
previewing advantages and disadvantages: on the one hand, the
analysis of a specific aspect of reality that allows you to delve into
the knowledge; however, concentrating the analysis on a single
determined factor makes it difficult to extrapolate the results.
Results
The substantive point of view is best exemplified in the 1999
OHCHR resolution "Promotion of the right to democracy". UNHCR
(1999) described the right of democratic governance as:
• The rights to freedom of opinion and expression, of
thought, conscience and religion, and of association and
peaceful assembly;
• The right to freedom to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas through any means;
• The rule of law, including the legal protection of the rights,
interests and personal security of citizens, and equity in the
administration of justice and the independence of the
judiciary;
• The right to universal and equal suffrage, as well as free
voting procedures and periodic and free elections;
• The right to political participation, including equal
opportunities for all citizens to become candidates;
• transparent and accountable government institutions;
• The right of citizens to choose their governmental system
through constitutional or other democratic means;
• The right to equal access to public service in the country
itself.
Sinergias educativas
October - December Vol. 6 – 4 - 2021
http://sinergiaseducativas.mx/index.php/revista/
141
Since the latter definition states that substantive conceptions of
democracy are multifaceted, they cannot be easily described as a
particular political goal, such as maximizing popular participation in
politics. Instead, substantive democracy is said to incorporate all the
benefits of a tolerant, pluralistic, and participatory society.
Therefore, international agencies adopt this vision of democracy.
Democracy is described by the United Nations as "consisting of nine
distinctive but fully interrelated components", including human
rights, constitutional design, parliamentary processes, the rule of law
and accountability and transparency. Therefore, the strengthening of
democracy must be considered based on strengthening as a whole
(OHCHR, 1993).
If we look now, the fact that elections are held only from a
procedural point of view (in fact, all citizens have the right to
participate in the election), this right is guaranteed and protected by
the rule of law. If we analyze it in a substantial way, it is likely that,
although everyone has the same right to participate, not everyone is
in the same conditions to do so, that is, the rational decision-making
process at the time of voting may be affected by such factors. such
as educational, economic, peer pressure, and clientelist practices of
the media among others.
It is clear that the fact that elections are held and that citizens
participate in them is a democratic advance, but in terms of
strengthening we should question citizenship and under what
conditions they vote, which means that elections should be
guaranteed in a context of respect for human rights and democratic
values.
Consider now the political parties, one of the main criticisms is that
today they have become organizations designed with the purpose of
obtaining power, and to fulfill that purpose, they are willing to
sacrifice the ideals of democratic participation (Subirats, 2011).
In the face of current criticism of voting and the party system, the
electoral offer is suspect from the first time, that is, the candidates
come from a questionable or damaged internal electoral process
chosen by the closed party centers since the beginning of the contest,
turning the elections into a scarce offer of credibility and, therefore,
not very attractive to the public.
The need to broaden participation in the Latin American case, where
attempts have been made to counteract the democratic vacuum, the
question is whether, in the context of institutional deterioration and
Sinergias educativas
October - December Vol. 6 – 4 - 2021
http://sinergiaseducativas.mx/index.php/revista/
142
low credibility, governments have the capacity and the interest to
grant real power to citizens and generate consensus to guarantee real
spaces.
By this I mean that if you create truly pluralistic and participatory
spaces, the exercise of citizenship would be strengthened, which
would result in more democracy and greater demands on the
government.
Therefore, participation promoted by institutions will be conditioned
by the capacity and degree of credibility towards government
institutions. Since they are not developed as a public initiative,
talking about strengthening democracy through expanding
participation or establishing practices to encourage it requires a
higher level of complexity. According to citizen surveys carried out
in 2008 to interesting data in two dimensions.
On the one hand, when citizens were asked about the democratic
preference indicators from 0 to 100%, all the percentages are above
85%. While this percentage in relation to the percentages expressed
on the degree of trust in the institutions are notable differences, since
the degree of trust ranges between 10 and 40%, excluding Mexico,
Colombia and Chile that have reached higher values. to the average.
The prospect of acceptance of democracy and a significant
delegitimization of political institutions is the paradox of democracy
and indicates the pressing need to create new spaces to respond to
the empty and unfulfilled expectations of citizens. The challenge is
to strengthen the citizen-state link. While the social fabric of Latin
American democracies has traditionally been organized from top to
bottom, that is, from institutions to individuals around an
institutional axis or policy. If it is weak, the participation scenarios
proposed are not very encouraging. If democracy does not have the
capacity to create a strong enough social fabric, it cannot generate a
citizenship that is a true counterweight to the state
In his work "Democracy in the United States", Tocqueville questions
the relationship between a community and its political ties in a
democratic society, that is, how to build and keep alive a relationship
between the citizen and the government, which can be legitimately
translated democracy and response to its citizens.
From the origin of Latin American countries, the characterization of
the social fabric makes it difficult to create pressure groups that
counter the government, making it difficult for people to get
involved in social justice issues.
Sinergias educativas
October - December Vol. 6 – 4 - 2021
http://sinergiaseducativas.mx/index.php/revista/
143
From this argument derives the need to redefine the State-Society
relationship, considering the role of citizenship in a modern
democratic society.
One of the main factors that point to the need to reconfigure the
concept of citizenship is globalization and the weakening of states.
From this point of view, citizenship seen as a tool of the State, is
exercised through institutions. To analyze this concept more deeply,
a historical background is needed.
Beginning with the French Revolution, two different types of rights
could be distinguished, human rights and citizens' rights. The former
do not depend on any power of the State, they are before the
authorization of the State.
The latter are signed by the State and can be modified according to
the needs of the State. The redefinition of citizenship outside the
traditional sphere of the State, seeking to claim the rights within the
States through non-state actors, opens doors to advance in the
deepening of democratic legitimacy. Citizens are strengthened and a
social fabric is created that can generate a state response capacity.
According to the Kymlicka classification, the importance of citizens
in matters of social justice and the establishment of the relationship
between civil society and government can be divided into
(Chambers, 2002):
• The representative democracy system, including the
electoral system, the legislative process and political
parties;
• State administration, including court schools, welfare
agencies, the army and the police, and the like.
o Associative life that can be divided into
§ Public interest groups engaged in democratic
debates and public speeches, including
NGOs and social movements in which
citizens try to address each other on issues of
public concert and change public opinion.
§ Private association (art groups, recreational
groups, many religious groups) in which
people associate with others with a similar
mindset to pursue a particular conception of
the good.
• The economy.
• The family.
Sinergias educativas
October - December Vol. 6 – 4 - 2021
http://sinergiaseducativas.mx/index.php/revista/
144
After this classification, civil groups can participate and act in two
areas, the first relates to institutional participation and the second
refers to the association of groups with public interest. The latter may
or may not be institutional, as in NGO groups. This type of group
has demonstrated its importance in international fields, achieving
significant participation in International Summits and claiming
rights within States.
In this scenario, it is necessary for a new definition to emerge for
citizens and civil society, where they play as actors to help rebuild
the "polis" and strengthen democracy.
While citizens currently play an important role in international
politics, new concepts such as citizen diplomacy are emerging to
explain this new role and its new ability to carry out public
authorization and influence on governments.
According to some, an increasingly important component of citizen
diplomacy is lobbying efforts with foreign governments, multilateral
relations, the construction of government networks, ideas and
proposals for research projects, and the dissemination of information
in world forums or summits from the ONU (Avendaño, et. al, 2000).
This new concept covers activities in Foreign Policy, and we could
consider the emergence of a new citizenship through different forms
of action to satisfy new social needs. This new citizenship arises with
a different civil behavior, which implies a non-traditional
participation in the Nations.
Another aspect to take into account is the way in which this public
participation created and organized by citizens can impact the
democratic strength of States through the citizen-government
relationship, working from non-governmental bodies and supported
by international groups. In addition to NGOs, there are more
organizations dedicated to claiming rights and affecting the political
life of nations. In this paper, I will analyze this participation
specifically through non-governmental organizations.
NGOs emerge as a social reaction when the state neglects social
development assistance activities. Then, NGOs emerge as an
important aid and, in some cases, as a main actor in the assistance
tasks that must be carried out by the official authorities. There are
few examples of the contributions of NGOs in the life of a nation
Natsios (1995).
NGOs have developed on three levels:
Sinergias educativas
October - December Vol. 6 – 4 - 2021
http://sinergiaseducativas.mx/index.php/revista/
145
§ Social and political changes, specifically in the
democratization of public life.
§ Human rights.
§ Conflict planning process.
Under these premises, NGOs have established their own space on
the international and national scene. At the international level, NGOs
have made important contributions, take, for example, Amnesty
International's action that led the UN to first adopt a resolution
against torture, followed by the Convention against Torture.
NGOs have also enjoyed development within the United Nations
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
In 1945, NGOs were recognized with a special consultative status in
article 71 of the Charter of the United Nations. There are currently
approximately 1,500 registered NGOs in the United Nations system
with observer status, and only 400 are registered with US AID. USA
A necessary process for them to receive grants from the US
government (Natasios, 1995).
NGOs are perhaps the most complex and diverse of these three
stakeholder groups, particularly those involved in complex
humanitarian emergencies.
The participation of NGOs and international agencies specifically in
sessions within the United Nations makes these organizations
negotiators at different levels of government, both international and
national. From this arises the first of three arguments, which would
be the importance of these actors in the contributions of global
governance, secondly, the management of these actors in terms of
strengthening multilateralism and, finally, the deepening of
democratic legitimacy.
These arguments may have a point regarding citizen participation
and contributions to the Global Scene and to the State, creating new
ties and new actions and, finally, how they are contributing or
affecting the States, for this specific case in strengthening
democracy.
I mentioned the rise of citizen organizations (NGOs) working with
international agencies (UN) in tasks known as complex emergencies,
humanitarian tasks ranging from the deterioration or complete
collapse of central government authority; ethnic or religious
conflicts and widespread human rights abuses; episodic food
insecurity frequently deteriorates into mass starvation;
Macroeconomic collapse involving hyperinflation, mass
Sinergias educativas
October - December Vol. 6 – 4 - 2021
http://sinergiaseducativas.mx/index.php/revista/
146
unemployment and net declines in GNP, and massive population
movements of displaced people and refugees escaping the conflict
or looking for food.
Discussion
In these conflict situations, citizens have taken steps to become a link
in the chain of management of state and international activities in
favor of the States of Stability and the Protection of Human Rights;
once these rights are guaranteed, it will contribute to democratic
legitimacy.
In this regard, the United Nations has also participated as observers
in the establishment of young democracies with the intention of
developing and guaranteeing respect for human rights.
In these efforts, we can find a set of democratic values that can be
related to citizens of different states, these values are reflected in
collaborative efforts or in the interest of participating in international
organizations to contribute to the solution of certain disputes.
If we analyze the idea of the interaction between citizen and
international organizations, on the one hand we see a contribution of
citizens from all over the world who participate in global governance
(Karns and Mingst, 2004), and on the other hand, we have organized
citizen groups that claim that international organizations support
their claims or instruments that make them mediators or
counterweights, and allow them to impact the interior of the States.
Therefore, international public interaction can be collaborative or
guardianship, seeking the inclusion of a mention or taking into
account certain demands of citizens.
If we take this argument to Latin American societies, institutional
participation has not been predominantly looking back or
supporting, as in the case of the search for recognition of indigenous
communities in Latin America, who wanted to be recognized as
subjects of international law under the term of people who invoke
UN resolutions that evoke the term people since 1948, then ILO
Convention 169 recognizes the term people and the right to self-
determination. Another case: the 1997 declaration of the
Organization of American States (OAS) on indigenous peoples
proclaims peoples under international law (Villoro, 2005). This fight
for the recognition of indigenous communities in Latin America is a
sample of the relationship between citizens and international and
Sinergias educativas
October - December Vol. 6 – 4 - 2021
http://sinergiaseducativas.mx/index.php/revista/
147
state organizations, and has finally undertaken reforms in most Latin
American governments to grant constitutional rights to difference
and diversity. cultural. This fight was won from the international to
the national level in the sense of a collaborative citizenship that trusts
and depends on international organizations that exert a positive
influence within the states. In this case, the result affects the
institutions and grants legitimacy; Government institutions are also
under pressure to respond to the necessary counterbalance in
traditionally non-participatory societies or in those that do not have
citizen mobility and stronger networks.
References
Aguilar, J. A. (2014). Grandes expectativas: la democracia mexicana
y sus descontentos. Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Políticas y
Sociales. 59 (222) pp. 19-50. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0185-
1918(14)70209-0
Avendaño, R., Moreno, A., & Priego Mendoza, Enrique. (2000). Las
ONG en la frontera Baja California-California: un
acercamiento al estudio de la diplomacia ciudadana. Estudios
fronterizos, 1(1), 89-135.
http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=
S0187-69612000000100003&lng=es&tlng=es.
Chambers, S. and Will, K. (2002). Alternative Conceptions of Civil
Socity. Princeton.
Natsios, A. S. (1995) NGOs and the UN system in complex
humanitarian emergencies: Conflict or cooperation?, Third
World Quarterly, 16 (3), pp. 405-420,
https://doi.org/10.1080/01436599550035979
OHCHR (1993) World Conference on Human Rights. Vienna
Declaration and Program of Action.
https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/vienna.a
spx
Revelez, F. (2017). Problemas de la representación política y de la
participación directa en la democracia. Estudios Políticos, 42,
pp. 11-35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.espol.2017.05.007
Subirats, J. (2011) Nuevos mecanismos de participación y
democracia: promesas y amenzas, pp.33-42. En Joan Font
(ed.), Ciudadanos y Decisiones Públicas. Arial
Sinergias educativas
October - December Vol. 6 – 4 - 2021
http://sinergiaseducativas.mx/index.php/revista/
148
UNHCR (1999) Resolution. Promotion of the Right to Democracy.
https://www.refworld.org/docid/3b00f02e8.html
Villoro, L. (2005) Multiculturalismo y Derecho. Porrúa.
