Abstract

FUENTES, Guillermo; BUSCHIAZZO, Valentina  and  CASTILLO, Marcelo. Who, how, and for what? The participation spaces convened by the Ministry of Social Development of Uruguay. Espiral (Guadalaj.) [online]. 2016, vol.23, n.65, pp.89-121. ISSN 1665-0565.

In this article are analyzed the participation spaces created by the Ministry of Social Development (MIDES) of Uruguay between 2005 and 2013, considered management instruments, studying to what measure their function facilitates the meeting of political objectives and looking to determine if they are mechanisms of democratic innovation that introduce new manners of social control. The spaces are analyzed from their positioning in the cube of democracy (Fung, 2006). The results warned of shortcomings in the designs of the spaces, of available resources (human, material, and authoritative), and of criteria to convene, which doubts the transforming potential of the participation spaces.

Keywords : Democratic innovation; management instruments; participation; social control; Uruguay.