Inequality and Deliberative Development: Revisiting Bolivia's Experience with the PRSP

The deliberative‐development approach to policy‐making has gained popularity in both academic and policy circles. However, insufficient attention has been paid to the requirements necessary for deliberation to have beneficial effects on policy, some of which are detailed in this article, in particul...

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Published inDevelopment policy review Vol. 25; no. 6; pp. 721 - 740
Main Authors Morrison, Kevin M., Singer, Matthew M.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.11.2007
Subjects
Bolivia
Civil Society
Decision Making
Developing countries
Development policy
Economic Development
Elites
Inequality
LDCs
Public policy
Social change
State-society relations
Studies
Bolivia
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Summary:The deliberative‐development approach to policy‐making has gained popularity in both academic and policy circles. However, insufficient attention has been paid to the requirements necessary for deliberation to have beneficial effects on policy, some of which are detailed in this article, in particular the need for equality among deliberators. The article examines Bolivia's 2000 National Dialogue and demonstrates the effects of inequality — not between elites and non‐elites, but between groups within civil society — on the legitimacy of the outcome. Its findings have important implications for the design of deliberative‐development institutions.
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ArticleID:DPR394
Earlier versions of this article were presented at the Latin American Studies Association Conference in Dallas, TX, 27–29 March 2003 and as Working Paper 05/06 at the Institute of Socio‐Economic Research at the Catholic University of Bolivia. The project would not have been possible without the generous and wide‐ranging support of Karen Remmer. We are also grateful for comments and support from Javier Corrales, Marcela González Rivas, Franco Gamboa, Tom Morrison, Marco Mendoza, Victoria Murillo, Joan Nelson, Nicolas van de Walle, Michael Walton, Diego Zavaleta, attendees at a meeting of the Consortium in Latin American and Caribbean Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University, and several anonymous reviewers; also to the individuals in Bolivia who shared with us their information and opinions. All errors are of course our responsibility. We greatly appreciate financial support from Duke University's Markets and Democracy in Latin America program, Duke's Program for the Study of Democratic Institutions and Political Economy, and the Duke Center for Latin America and Caribbean Studies. Kevin Morrison is also grateful for financial support from the National Science Foundation and an affiliation with the Institute of Socio‐Economic Research at the Catholic University of Bolivia.
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ISSN:0950-6764
1467-7679
DOI:10.1111/j.1467-7679.2007.00394.x