Upsetting the democratic balance of power? A case-study of the Council of Citizen Participation and Social Control in Ecuador

During the 1990s and early 2000s, several Latin American countries were the scene of strong political, economic and social upheavals. This context produced the widening of inequality gaps as well as a crisis of legitimacy over traditional democratic institutions. These conditions allowed for the emergence of left-wing governments who achieved government power through paradigmatic and counter-hegemonic proposals in their development and governance models. In 2008, Ecuador approved a new constitution that incorporated citizen participation as a constitutional right motivating a new state structure that disrupted the traditional division of powers with the incorporation of two more powers of the State and an organization the Council of Citizen Participation (CPCCS) which is responsible for moving towards a participatory democracy. This paper illustrates a qualitative case-study about the role played by the CPCCS around two main research areas. The first, focus it analysis around the creation of spaces of participation based on the institutional design and the organizational action. The limitations and opportunities in the exercise and practice of the citizen participation will be identified. The second research area emphasize it analysis on the interests and positions of the Executive and Legislative branch around the CCPSC and the selection appointee process as participatory spaces where the power distribution is deployed. In other words, the CCPSC and the selection appointee process will be explored toward the democratic balance of power. The perspectives collected by semi-structured interviews with NGOs, officials, scholars and representants of the legislative power were examined in a critical way to rethink these participatory experiences around the debate between participation to transform or to govern. Finally, this research paper reflects the impact of these paradigms on the transformation of power relations in the democratization processes.