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Associations and Activism: Mobilization of Urban Informal Workers in Costa Rica and Nicaragua

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Charles L. Davis
Affiliation:
University of Kentucky
Edwin E. Aguilar
Affiliation:
State University of New York at Albany
John G. Speer
Affiliation:
Houston Community College-Southwest, University of Kentucky

Abstract

Studies of Latin American civil society tend to assume that popular organizations promote “high-intensity” forms of political participation while political parties mainly encourage voting. This study compares the influence of these two forces in the urban informal sector. Association involvement, low in both samples, is related to “higher-intensity” participation, but the differential influence of associations and parties holds only for Costa Rica; Nicaragua’s revolutionary FSLN has fostered a more politically active citizenry.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 1999

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