Organizations of neighbors: from authoritarianism to democracy

Abstract

The existing contradiction in Argentina, among the democratization process of the political regime and the state reform process, politically excluding, presents us with an increasingly fragmented political and social field. Growth makes conflicts and demands more complex, especially in those cities in the interior of the country that continue to concentrate population in the absence of development in accordance with the needs that the accelerated pace of urbanization imposes. The common residence and the lack of infrastructure produce new forms of association oriented toward demanding collective solutions. Beyond cultural, political, and ideological differences; the diverse economic possibilities; and the fragmentation of the local social field, the residents of the “barrios” tend to organize around the present common problems. In recent years, we found that the organization and struggle of the poor have been limited to recovery for better urban services. We suggest that these movements, which do not find forms of direct expression within the political system, sustain a set of partial issues that are manifested in the constitution of a specific political culture in the conjuncture.