Civil Society and Participatory Governance

Maureen M. Donaghy is Assistant Professor at Rutgers University-Camden.  Her research and teaching interests focus on development and civil society with an emphasis on participatory governance, urban politics and Latin America.

• 1: Introduction 2: Housing Policy as Critical Challenge for Development and Democracy 3: The Effect of Municipal Housing Councils on Policy Outcomes 4: Civil Society Density, Participatory Governance, and Policy Outcomes 5: Pathways to Participatory Governance: Policy-Making in Brazil’s Municipal Housing Councils 6: The Creation Effect: Evaluating Commitment in Participatory Governance Institutions 7: Longevity in Participatory Governance Institutions: São Paulo’s Municipal Housing Council at 10 8: Conclusion: Can Democracy Remedy Social Challenges? Findings on the Effect of Participatory Governance Institutions

"This book makes an important contribution to our understanding of how participatory governance can produce improvements in social well-being and public goods allocations. Donaghy’s work is a welcome addition to a growing body of work on citizen participation and participatory democracy, because it is the first book that combines large-N and case study analyses to demonstrate that these new democratic institutions generate public policies that have beneficial impacts on the lives of poor citizens."—Brian Wampler, Boise State University"This is an empirically rich and innovative "mixed-method" study of participatory institutions in Brazil. Donaghy does more than tell us that civic participation makes for good social policy. She presents a nuanced analysis of why that is so, breaking with commonly accepted hypotheses such as that a preexisting history of civil society mobilization determines the success of government sponsored efforts to include citizens in decision making."—Rebecca Abers, University of Brasília