• Strengthening civil society

Strengthening civil society

Associations are often seen in democratic theory as ‘schools of democracy’, which play a critical role in producing civic and active citizens. Based on research in São Paulo and Mexico City, this IDS paper argues that this may not be the case in newer democracies with authoritarian legacies. It finds that, although citizens who participate in associations are more likely to actively pursue a range of rights and entitlements, this participation does not improve the quality of their relations with government.

The paper draws on data from a citizens’ survey conducted in the two cities, which explores the relationship between citizens, associations, and government. Specifically, it seeks to establish how associations influence citizens’ capacity to hold public bureaucracy accountable for providing access to the public goods to which they are entitled as citizens. 

The survey’s main findings include:

• participation in associations does not make it more likely that an individual has the type of direct relations to government that approximate the democratic ideal, in which citizens are seen as legal equals and carriers of rights and entitlements
• associations are just as likely to reinforce the detached, brokered, or contentious relations to government that are common in newer democracies
• the quality of citizens’ relationship to government is more likely to be shaped by medium-to-long term processes involving political actors and institutions than by the associational experience of individual citizens.

Based on these findings, the paper argues that any consideration of citizen-government relations should pay careful attention to the civil dimensions of citizenship, as well as its political dimensions.

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