Lessons from the Global South : the indigenous experience with democracy from below in Mexico

Abstract

This work proposes to share the experience of the indigenous peoples in Mexico and their progress in building a concrete democracy from below. Democracy from below is an active and participatory governing system in which democracy, meaning popular power, is exercised in every branch of life as an empowering mechanism in itself. The lessons from the Global South proposes changes to the educational system and incentive pluralism in the media outlets by focusing on community media. Besides, it entails a strong and effective accountability mechanism and requires emphasis on the local level in order to develop another project of democracy which will help the efforts of increasing the engagement of civil society in political matters and in the public sphere.