Participación o la suma de esfuerzos individuales. Qué es lo local y como impregnarlo del concepto de desarrollo

Much has been said and written in Mexico in reference to civic participation being considered as a bulwark to local development and of how international organizations (both government and non government), not forgetting local governments, have used this concept for their own ends. However, scarce results have been seen in the improvement of living conditions for poor Mexican communities.The aim of this article is to showcase what the issues have been, their so-called solutions and the reason why these social programs have been applied. The case has often been to use citizens for “citizen participation” exercises, which have only been used to continue conserving spaces of local power, preventing that the initiative itself detonate true changes within excluded local communities.