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Contracting, Contesting, and Co-Optation: Civil Society Organizations' Strategies under New Institutional Arrangements in Brazil
Vertrag, Wettkampf, Ko-Optierung: die Strategien zivilgesellschaftlicher Organisationen in Brasilien unter neoinstitutionalistischen Arrangements
[journal article]
Abstract Civil society has exploded in Latin America as democratization has continued over the last 30 years. Civil society organizations (CSOs) are thought to improve governance and oversight and to increase social capital. Nonetheless, we have limited knowledge about what motivates CSOs' political strategi... view more
Civil society has exploded in Latin America as democratization has continued over the last 30 years. Civil society organizations (CSOs) are thought to improve governance and oversight and to increase social capital. Nonetheless, we have limited knowledge about what motivates CSOs' political strategies, which include participating in formal political institutions, attending demonstrations, and providing services. We build knowledge here by evaluating data from a unique survey of nine hundred CSOs across seven Brazilian cities. Our findings showcase several parallel processes: poorer CSOs continue to rely on the state and actively participate in political processes despite protesting at greater rates than wealthier CSOs; therefore, we contend that institutional and political process arguments better explain poorer CSOs' behavior. We also argue that relatively wealthy CSOs' disengagement reflects greater resource mobilization, more professionalization, and an increase in social capital. Our results show that multilayered explanations improve our understanding of CSO behavior and state-society relations in Brazil and Latin America. (author's abstract)... view less
Keywords
civil society; organizations; Brazil; neoinstitutionalism; democracy; national state; political participation; protest; non-governmental organization; social movement; democratization; South America; Latin America
Classification
Political Process, Elections, Political Sociology, Political Culture
Document language
English
Publication Year
2015
Page/Pages
p. 3-44
Journal
Journal of Politics in Latin America, 7 (2015) 1
ISSN
1868-4890
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed