Public space and citizen participation in public management in Chile: limits and possibilities

Abstract

Citizen participation has been included in the discourse of Chilean public policies since 1990. The paper presents a critical balance of the impact that such agendas, especially those framed in the active social policy of the Concertación administrations  (1900-2010), have had for civil society as well as for public management. This essay examines the main institutional mechanisms for citizen participation in public policies enacted in Chile in the past twenty years, in light of their effect on expansion of public space for democratic deliberation. The paper suggests that the weak level of institutional development achieved, and its disconnection from the deliberation public space,  result in reproduction of unequal access to public decisions and a degree of irrelevance in mechanisms implemented in the course of policies. Basic standards are proposed that must be met if achievement of citizen participation is to result in more equitable access, strengthened capabilities of public action in civil society, and more effective policy coordination