Rural governance in Mexico in times of the pandemic. Analysis from the network of political participation mechanisms

ABSTRACT

Rural governance is a notion of relatively recent use at a global level in the academic field. In Mexico, rural governance has only recently come into use and refers to new, more collaborative forms of social and political coordination of rural public affairs. The text sustains that this, in part, is expressed in political participation mechanisms (PPM), arrangements or spaces in which governmental and non-governmental actors come together for this purpose. The main objective of this collaboration is to analyze the existing network or constellation of PPM in Mexico, in the context of the pandemic originated by Covid-19, and to discuss the way in which this emergency has affected the operation of these devices observed, as a whole, as a general unit of research and analysis. It is believed that this network has been of little use in dealing with the exceptional situation defined by social confinement, and that it is necessary to deepen its scope and capabilities so that in the future it may be constituted as a more effective way of amplifying the deliberative and participatory options available to citizens and rural civil society and, more generally, for democracy.