Municipal Citizen Participation in Chile: Evolution and Impact of Legislative Changes

The article analyses the evolution and impact of Chilean legislative changes in municipal and participation policies over the last four decades. The research, based on qualitative ethnography, examines the normative evolution and implementation, through interviews with mayors and a documentary review. The results reveal that, under the same regulatory framework, municipalities show dissimilar results in participation. While some implement successful mechanisms, others maintain merely formal participation. The public policies analysed reveal a gap between the regulatory framework and local execution, identifying key factors such as municipal leadership, participatory institutionalisation and municipal reorganisation. This highlights the need to further analyse the underlying causes of low participation and develop proposals to encourage it.