OVERCOMING UNDERDEVELOPMENT AND THE PATH OF DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRACY

Abstract

This article presents an analysis of the link between democracy and normative conception of development as an endogenous process. Endogenous development is an alternative to overcome underdevelopment which consists of an intentional process of social change identified with values and culture of the population. Deliberation appears as a legitimate way of determining the purposes of development. This study sought to understand to what extent institutions which perform the principles of deliberative democracy constitute a social arrangement feasible and functional for the development. The relationship between endogenous development and deliberative democracy is seen from a theoretical perspective and also from the results of actual deliberative procedures. Deliberative procedures showed positive impacts on distribution, improvement of public policies and change in power relations, although those results were restrained by the institution’s scale of operation and the dependence of more intense political processes.