Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law Stanford University


Female recipients of microloans in Oaxaca, Mexico

Photo Credit: Susan Bean Aycock


Direct Democracy, Governance and Public Goods Provision in Indigenous Communities

Program on Poverty and Governance Project
Ongoing

Researchers
Beatriz Magaloni - Stanford University
Alberto Diaz-Cayeros - UCSD
Alexander Ruiz Euler - UCSD

In partnership with the Center for US-Mexican Studies at UCSD, this research initiative studies the role of direct democracy in the provision of local public goods in Oaxaca, Mexico. Indigenous Southern Mexico provides a social laboratory regarding variation in governance structures following a 1995 constitutional reform that allowed communities in Oaxaca to elect local authorities through traditional methods of usos y costumbres. The project combines surveys, qualitative fieldwork, and observational statistical data to assess the effect of traditional institutions for collective choice on information flows, decision-making processes, female empowerment, public goods provision and citizen satisfaction.