institutional reforms, but by social leaders and civil organizations as well. Is not a
coincidence the increasing number of civil organizations and the profound
transformations that Mexico lived in those years. An important part of the pressure,
which triggered the democratic change, was due to the action, initiative,
organization, struggle and mobilization of the civil society forces.
However, as Putnam has pointed out, a strong and active civil society is important
not only in the transition to democracy, but also in the process of sustaining and
improving the democratic regimen.[1] Processes like accountability, civic
engagement, and institutional checks and balances are not possible without the
intervention of a strong citizenship and a proactive civil society. The sustainability of
democracy depends on the efforts of every single citizen as much as on the capacity
and compromise of political, cultural and economic elites. Political processes, in
modern society, would be weak and incomplete without the massive participation of
citizens. Besides, civil society organizations can be an excellent instrument to
communicate and coordinate the democratic efforts between political institutions and
individuals.
It is also important to care about the kind of internal organization and decision
making processes in civil society groups: clientelistic practices could negatively
affect organizations in transitional or new democracies. The interaction with
government and political power is necessary most of the time, but it should not
become a subordinate relation. The independence and free spirit of civil society
organizations are imperatives. The prevalence of liberal-democratic values is also
fundamental and crucial. For example, the increasing of non-democratic civil society
organizations could negatively affect the legitimacy of democratic values and
institutions. The higher the number of those organizations, an increasedrisk for
democracy. That is why, the promotion of democratic values is part of the job we
must do in order to sustain democracy through a proactive and well organized civil
society.
Mexico is a good example about it. Recent researches have demonstrated that
several rules and values followed by civil society organizations are closer to
authoritarianism, rather to democratic tradition. The role that they are playing, in
many cases, is clientelistic or subordinated.[2] This is a normal process if we
understand that democratic change is a long transition period. Besides, changes in
mentality, social practices and political values always require long term efforts.
However, it is our job to promote those changes with all the human and institutional
resources we can reach. In the next chart you can see the kind of civil society
organizations in Mexico.
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