New Mandala

In the penultimate episode of our second series, Dr Nicole Curato of UC's Centre for Participatory Democracy and Global Governance takes a look at a topic very close to her heart, when she talks to Dr Teresa Melgar about participatory governance. While the practice attract cynicism in many quarters, Dr Melgar's comparative sociological research in Porto Alegre in Brazil and Naga in the Philippines has helped to understand how local democracy unfolds in post-authoritarian settings, and the role that  institutionalising participatory processes can play in this.