Democracy and citizen participation in the capital cities: The case of Mexico City

Abstract

This paper presents the evolution of the channels to citizenship expression in Mexico City, the largest urban agglomeration in America and the Spanish-speaking world. There, more advanced participation mechanisms than those envisaged in federal legislation for the rest of the country have always been designed, albeit with little effectiveness. They have been designed as an attempt to compensate the weak democratic representation of the federal capital population. Formally the concern for participation is old, but ultimately proved fruitless. Recent milestones in participation are, first, the Federal District Citizen Participation Act of 2004, which was amended in 2010 in an attempt to form citizens' committees and native peoples' councils. On the other hand, the first local Constitution, approved in 2017, with provisions such as the "citizen’s chair" and the "revocation of mandate". The last pole of attention is the 2019 Law of Citizen Participation in the City.