Citizen Participation in the Legislative Powers of Costa Rica and Guatemala: Learned Lessons

This recomposition of the relations between the State and civil society includes the relations reframing of this one with the legislative power. Consequently, the search of a greater political impact of legislative modernization brought emphasis in the institutional aspects, which it contemplates to the interaction and the participation of the citizens. In this route, the legislative powers of Costa Rica and Guatemala, in addition to those of Nicaragua and El Salvador, have established mechanisms, systems and strategies that allow today to include citizen's opinions and directions in the process of political-parliamentary decision making.

These congresses have understood that the participation of the citizens does not constitute a social pressure, an excessive protagonism or an illegal attempt to interfere in the political decision making. They agree, that citizen participation is an obligation since those who do not try to participate and do not contribute to the work of their representatives are failing to fulfill with the condition of citizenship and the political duty associated with it. For them, it is clear that the political representation has two routes for its operation: on one hand, the one of the represented citizen, whose condition of voter forces him to participate, to contribute, to criticize and to demand accounts; and, on the other hand, the representative, whose privileged condition forces him to listen, to request advice and opinion, to support the decision making in the general interest and to render accounts. Without one of the two, the representation is inefficient.

The learned lessons show diverse forms and methodologies to assure the participation of the citizens in the parliamentary process. The implantation of some of the most successful practices requires reforms to the regulations or organic laws and others need only administrative decisions. Some have impact in the short term, but the majority in the medium and long term. All require opportune, safe and reliable information so that the participation is sustained and convenient.

Experiences exist that favor the participation in the pre legislative phase, others in the negotiation and agreement stage, the majority in the stage of debate and opinion, and a few in the stages of control and effectiveness of the law. All, nevertheless, contribute to give more negotiated, consensuated and efficient legislative answers.

In this line, the experiences of the legislative powers of Costa Rica and Guatemala are complementary. In Guatemala exists a more organized, articulated and vigorous civil society than in Costa Rica; but in Costa Rica the citizens have a greater understanding of the democratic institutions, its function and nature. This results that in the Congress of Guatemala a high concentration of organized citizens try to participate and to contribute, but with very relative results and impacts. In the Costa Rican case, the citizens participate with more direction, with clear objectives and accurately. The Congress of Guatemala has powerful instruments of participation that are limited by a prudent and afraid parliamentary culture, and the Costa Rican Legislative Assembly has established few instruments prescribed by regulations, but its use is of a high impact.

The objective of this essay is to develop, to analyze and to compare modernization experiences of the legislative powers of Guatemala and Costa Rica.