Collective actions of local democratic innovation in contexts of violence

Abstract

This paper applies a methodology of comparative case studies to analyze the emergence of collective action by local communities in Colombia and Mexico in contexts marked by violence and organized crime expansion. It argues that local communities in Urabá and Cherán have configured local governance systems that constitute democratic innovations from below and have emerged as forms of resistance in contexts of violence. These collective actions show the appropriation of institutional arran-gements created in recent decades through government reforms by collective actors. These actions have been articulated with global networks and placed their particular conflicts into a broader discussion on rural territorial development.