State-Local Complementarity and Spatial Variation in Human Development: Lessons from Rural Guatemala

36 Pages Posted: 4 Aug 2014

Date Written: 2014

Abstract

What accounts for variation in human development levels across similar communities? Why, for example, have some equally poor, indigenous, highland communities in Guatemala made advances in health and education, in particular, while others have stagnated or regressed? This paper argues that, contrary to an emerging recognition of the role of “ordinary citizens” in peacebuilding or crime reduction, human development requires the complementarity of citizen mobilization and government resources. For example, even in highly organized communities utilizing culturally relevant modes of participation and mobilization – at times with important consequences for local politics and crime – citizens were otherwise unable to coordinate resources and augment the implementation of key programs designed to combat hunger and illiteracy. In most cases, local level grievances and petty party politics interfered with the transparent and intended distribution of critical medical and monetary resources. Only rarely, when state actors at the local level coordinate with traditional leaders, and gain the cooperation and support of the mayor, does local governance allow for measurable gains in human development at the local level. These results are demonstrated through a quantitative analysis of all of Guatemala’s 334 municipalities, including difficult to access data from myriad sources, combined with the results of qualitative field methods – including over 100 key informant interviews and the results of focus groups across 6 paired communities throughout the Western Highlands – which aided in process tracing the implementation of a widely acclaimed government anti-hunger program at the village level. By highlighting stark differences in local governance and development outcomes across otherwise similar communities in the highlands of Guatemala, this paper raises important questions about: the role of durable social forces at the local level and their ability – if not taken into consideration – to thwart what are otherwise award-winning development schemes designed abroad or in the capital city; the complications of “local ownership” and local legitimacy with respect to development in complex environments of state-society discord; and the limitations of our knowledge of local forces on human development outcomes, versus peace and security, which operate under different mechanisms.

Keywords: Human Development, Local Governance, Complementarity, Guatemala

Suggested Citation

Klick, Matthew, State-Local Complementarity and Spatial Variation in Human Development: Lessons from Rural Guatemala (2014). APSA 2014 Annual Meeting Paper, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2455386

Matthew Klick (Contact Author)

University of Denver ( email )

2201 S. Gaylord St
Denver, CO 80208-2685
United States

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