MACMILLAN Intermediation and Representation in Latin America: Actors and Roles Beyond Elections (Studies of the Americas)

This book shows how the introduction of  intermediation is relevant in studying political and public policy processes, as they are increasingly accompanied by grey spaces in public and non-public arenas that cannot be categorized as purely representative or purely participative. Instead, ‘hybrid’ mechanisms are developing in the policy-making process, which bring in new actors who either are unelected while being required to represent or advocate for the common good of others or are directly elected but challenged by identity/rights-based issues of the people they are required to act in the best interest of. By proposing a conceptual frame on intermediation and addressing five different Latin American countries and a wide range of case studies ―from human rights, labour relations, neighbourhood management, municipal bureaucracies, social accountability, to complex national systems of citizen participation―this volume shows the versatility and validity of a tridimensional frame,  the “cube of political intermediation” (CPI) as a tool for analysing public policy and understanding contemporary democratic innovation in Latin America.  Review “Intermediation and Representation in Latin America is an inspiring and very opportune book, which helps to understand the transformations faced by representative democracy in Latin America. The volume offers directions for students and researchers in order to analyse the changes promoted by the wave of democratic innovations through a new lens.” (Yanina Welp, Democratization, Vol. 25 (5), August, 2017) Review “While a growing body of literature focuses on formal and informal institutions, this is one of the first books to attempt to systematically understand how they are inter-related. Elections are important, but they are hardly the only mechanism through which the interests of different actors are mediated. The volume captures these mechanisms graphically in a ‘cube of political intermediation (CPI)’ and through ‘circuits of political representation,’ providing an original theoretical model for understanding the multidimensional nature of politics.” (Philip Oxhorn, Professor of Political Science, McGill University, Canada) “This book goes beyond the most frequent focus on institutions of democratic innovation to analyze how 'political intermediation' works within different political settings considering institutions (e.g.councils, committees) as well as social organizations (e.g. human rights and labor organizations) and people (e.g. civil servants). The novelty of this volume lies in the concept of ‘circuits of representation’ and the cube of political intermediation (CPI), an analytical framework applied to the study of a selection of Latin America cases.” (Yanina Welp, Regional Director for LA, C2D - Centre for Research on Direct Democracy) “This conceptually innovative book offers fresh ideas about Latin American politics and insightful analyses of democratic innovations in the region.  The authors enrich our understanding of institutions often explored through the lenses of participation and representation by providing a new cube of political intermediation framework.  Armed with this framework, each chapter systematically focuses on different circuits of representation in Brazil, Mexico, Bolivia, Uruguay, and Venezuela, giving readers novel perspectives on unions, community councils, public security, civil society organizations, and public servants dedicated to health, human rights, and women’s rights.” (Benjamin Goldfrank, Associate Professor and Chair, Seton Hall University) From the Back Cover This book shows how the introduction of intermediation is relevant in studying public policy processes, as they are increasingly accompanied by grey spaces in public and non-public arenas that cannot be categorized as purely representative or purely participative. Instead, ‘hybrid’ mechanisms are developing in the policy-maki