Rural Democratisation in Mexico’s Deep South: Grassroots Right-to-Know Campaigns in Guerrero

Abstract:     
In Mexico’s southern state of Guerrero, rural social and civic movements are increasingly claiming their right to information as a tool to hold the state publicly accountable, as part of their ongoing issue-specific social, economic, and civic struggles. This study reviews the historical, social and political landscape that grounds campaigns for rural democratisation in Guerrero, including Mexico’s recent information access reforms and then compares two different regional social movements that have claimed the ‘right to know’. For some movements, the demand for information rights is part of a sustained strategy, for others it is a tactic, but the claim bridges both more resistance-oriented and more negotiation-oriented social and civic movements.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 29

Keywords: rural democratisation, transparency, accountability, Oportunidades, Guerrero, Mexico

JEL Classification: O13, L38, I18

Accepted Paper Series