Membership, Neighborhood Social Identification, Well-Being, and Health for the Elderly in Chile

The world’s elderly population is growing, and in Chile they represent 16.2% of the total population. In Chile, old age is marked by retirement, with a dramatic decrease in income that brings precariousness. Older adults are economically, socially, and psychologically vulnerable populations. This condition increases their likelihood of disengaging from their usual social environment, facilitating their isolation, sadness, and discomfort. From the perspective of social identity, well-being (WB) can be explained by two principles: social groups’ importance for health and people’s psychological identification with those groups. This study analyzes the relationships between belonging to the neighborhood and extra-neighborhood groups and neighborhood social identification with WB. Urban or rural location and gender are measured, and the sample is 1,475 older Chilean adults of both sexes. The results show that the majority are not members of social groups (52%), and the remaining 48% are members of one or two groups or organizations (42.65%). Only 4.47% belong to three groups or organizations. Those who belong to groups obtain higher scores, emotional–mental WB, and positive emotions than older adults who do not belong to any organization. Urban and rural older adults have the same level of WB. Membership in close social organizations (neighborhood councils) or distant ones (clubs for the elderly and religious groups) causes different WB associations. Membership in neighborhood councils reduces gender differences in self-assessment of health. This result supports the idea that participation in heterogeneous groups with a shared sense of belonging to the neighborhood is associated with higher WB and lower perceived loneliness. Social identification with the neighborhood, rather than belonging to the group, had the most widespread impact on WB and health indicators. The variable social identification with the neighborhood was consistently associated with indicators of hedonic WB.

La participación ciudadana en la formulación de la política pública local: El caso de los consejos barriales en el diseño del plan desarrollo en el cantón Portoviejo 2014 – 2019

El presente artículo analiza el caso de los consejos barriales como “grupos de interés” de la participación ciudadana en el cantón Portoviejo, Ecuador, en la actualización del plan de desarrollo (2014- 2019), abordados desde el enfoque de la teoría de la movilización recursos políticos, económicos, así como las coaliciones e instituciones participativas involucradas para este propósito. A través de un análisis normativo y teórico se identifica las limitaciones que impidieron la participación de los consejos barriales en el diseño de la política pública local. Los principales resultados indican que los consejos barriales muestran ausencia en el uso de los recursos políticos, carencia de todo tipo de fuentes de financiamiento y recursos económicos que le permitan participar en el diseño de las políticas públicas; así como también no activaron los mecanismos establecidos en la ley, y, finalmente no generaron coaliciones internas ni externas con los diferentes actores entorno a la actualización del plan de desarrollo (2014 – 2019) del cantón Portoviejo. Palabras clave: política pública; participación ciudadana; consejos barriales; plan de desarrollo; desarrollo local. Abstract This article analyzes the case of neighborhood councils as “interest groups” of citizen participation in the Portoviejo canton, Ecuador, in the update of the development plan (2014-2019). Its focus is on the approach of the mobilization theory, political and economic resources, as well as the coalitions and participatory institutions involved for this purpose. Through a normative and theoretical analysis, the limitations that prevented the participation of neighborhood councils in the design of local public policy are identified. The main results indicate that the neighborhood councils are nonexistent in the use of political resources, lack any type of financing and economic resources that allow them to participate in the design of public policies; They also did not activate the mechanisms established in the law, and finally did not generate internal or external coalitions with the different actors around the update of the development plan (2014 - 2019) of the Portoviejo canton. Keywords: public politics; citizen participation; neighborhood councils; development plan; local development.

Evaluating Informal Politics in Mexico City

The rise of participatory democracy in urban Latin America has increased citizen deliberation in local politics, improved access to state officials and given residents greater control over municipal budgets. Simultaneously, welfare state retrenchment across the region has ensured the continued importance of the informal sector in securing citizen livelihoods, including informal political arrangements such as clientelism. Given their documented co-existence, how do informal political strategies operate in this new landscape of formal, local democracy? To answer this question, this article analyzes 21 semi-structured interviews with urbanists in Mexico City who evaluate the informal tactics of two groups that mobilize through participatory democratic initiatives: street vendor unions and white collar neighborhood councils. Urbanists regularly denounce informal, corporatist-clientelistic political strategies when they are used by street vendor groups. However, when deployed by white collar neighborhood councils, these tactics are tolerated and even celebrated. The differential reception of informal political tactics by city officials draws attention to how they construct the legitimacy or illegitimacy of informal political action. I argue that considering legitimacy adds a new analytical category to studies of informal politics that captures which groups are able to use informal tactics to advance their claims in local participatory democracy.

What Makes Neighborhood Associations Effective in Urban Governance? Evidence From Neighborhood Council Boards in Los Angeles

This study examines the perceived effectiveness of neighborhood councils (NCs) in Los Angeles, a government-sanctioned and financed institutional innovation in urban governance. The study considers NC boards as a dynamic and open social system that interacts with NCs’ internal and external environment. We propose that three factors—internal capacity, external networking, and attention-action congruence—are related to perceived NC effectiveness. The findings from a questionnaire survey of 80 NCs show that NC leaders perceive their organizations to be moderately effective. While internal capacity contributes to all three dimensions of effectiveness, external networking enhances NCs’ effectiveness in solving community issues and advising about city policies. Attention-action congruence, which examines the correspondence between NC board members’ issue orientation and actual actions, is positively related to NCs’ effectiveness in advising about city policies. The study concludes with considerations for enhancing the effectiveness of neighborhood associations.

Missing Links in the Institutional Chain

This article examines how the chain of institutions that links individuals and communities with the state and with markets helps promote economic development and democracy. It argues that strengthening institutional chains with links at the grassroots, or local, level, such as school boards and parent-teacher associations, district offices of congressmen or political parties, or neighborhood councils, would help citizens diminish the power of local oligarchies, make ruling elites more accountable, and do something about indifferent bureaucrats. Citing the case of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh in India, the article illustrates how human capabilities and individual agency can help communities close the existing institutional gaps by effectively utilizing collective resources in the service of democracy and development. It shows that economic development is possible through democratic participation and by connecting social capital with programs of the state and with market-based opportunities.

Civil Society Reconstruction: Popular Organizations in Postearthquake Concepción

The Chilean province of Concepción was little prepared for the impact of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami that took place on February 27, 2010. Because of the destruction of roads and bridges, the power outage, and ineffective communication, each neighborhood was essentially left to fend for itself with virtually no assistance from local and provincial authorities. Within the first 24 hours, panic hit, with stores being looted and local politicians calling for a military presence, and neighbors joined together to protect their property from looting gangs, even in the poorest neighborhoods. Most of these committees were not based on the traditional neighborhood councils that had emerged since the return to electoral democracy in 1990. In the emergency camps established by families that had lost their houses, the new leaders established a more autonomous and horizontal leadership style in their search for decent living conditions and a definitive housing solution. At first glance, these new leaders appear to be a return to the autonomous popular organizations that emerged during the dictatorship but were demobilized under electoral democracy. Ironically, the earthquake and the new center-right government seem to have offered a political opportunity for the reemergence of a more autonomous civil society. La provincia chilena de Concepción estuvo poco preparada por el impacto del terremoto y el posterior tsunami que ocurrió el 27 de febrero de 2010. Debido a la destrucción de caminos y puentes, el apagón, y la comunicación ineficaz, cada barrio fue esencialmente librado a su suerte prácticamente sin asistencia de las autoridades locales y provinciales. Dentro de las primeras 24 horas cundió el pánico, con saqueos de las tiendas y llamados de los políticos locales por una presencia militar, y vecinos juntándose para proteger su propiedad de las bandas de saqueo, aún en los barrios más pobres. La mayoría de estos comités no estaban basados en los tradicionales consejos barriales que habían surgido desde el retorno de la democracia electoral en 1990. En los campamentos de emergencia establecidos por las familias que habían perdido sus casas, nuevos líderes crearon un estilo de liderazgo más autónomo y horizontal en la búsqueda de condiciones decentes de vida y una solución definitiva sobre la vivienda. A primera vista, estos nuevos líderes parecen representar un retorno a las organizaciones autónomas populares que surgieron durante la dictadura pero que fueron desmovilizados bajo la democracia electoral. Irónicamente, el terremoto y el nuevo gobierno de centro-derecha parecen haber brindado una oportunidad política para la reemergencia de una sociedad civil más autónoma.