Community-based Planning and Poverty Alleviation in Oaxaca, Mexico

@article{citeulike:2426977, abstract = {In response to the growing critique of decentralized and participatory approaches to development, the article develops a theoretical framework for analyzing the relationship between community-based planning and poverty. Building on contributions from research on collective action, social capital, and social movements, the framework identifies a series of variables that are theorized to affect a community's capacity to alleviate poverty. Using this framework, three community-level case studies in Oaxaca, Mexico are analyzed. All three communities are characterized by a decline in subsistence agriculture, increasing out-migration, and the use of remittances to finance community-based planning projects. The article documents each community's capacity to alleviate the material manifestations of poverty. It concludes that only the community with the strongest capacity for community-level collective action was capable of planning independent of the state, and thus in a position to take incipient steps toward addressing poverty's structural causes. The findings call into question the often assumed desirability of collaborative planning and support the need for a more nuanced understanding of the strengths and limitations of distinct forms of community-based planning interpreted within broader socio-political contexts. 10.1177/0739456X07306394}, author = {Mason, David R. and Beard, Victoria A. }, citeulike-article-id = {2426977}, doi = {10.1177/0739456X07306394}, journal = {Journal of Planning Education and Research}, keywords = {poverty, poverty\_alleviation}, month = {March}, number = {3}, pages = {245--260}, posted-at = {2008-02-25 20:12:48}, priority = {2}, title = {Community-based Planning and Poverty Alleviation in Oaxaca, Mexico}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0739456X07306394}, volume = {27}, year = {2008} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:2426977 L3 - citeulike-article-id:2426977 TI - Community-based Planning and Poverty Alleviation in Oaxaca, Mexico JF - Journal of Planning Education and Research VL - 27 IS - 3 SP - 245 EP - 260 N2 - In response to the growing critique of decentralized and participatory approaches to development, the article develops a theoretical framework for analyzing the relationship between community-based planning and poverty. Building on contributions from research on collective action, social capital, and social movements, the framework identifies a series of variables that are theorized to affect a community's capacity to alleviate poverty. Using this framework, three community-level case studies in Oaxaca, Mexico are analyzed. All three communities are characterized by a decline in subsistence agriculture, increasing out-migration, and the use of remittances to finance community-based planning projects. The article documents each community's capacity to alleviate the material manifestations of poverty. It concludes that only the community with the strongest capacity for community-level collective action was capable of planning independent of the state, and thus in a position to take incipient steps toward addressing poverty's structural causes. The findings call into question the often assumed desirability of collaborative planning and support the need for a more nuanced understanding of the strengths and limitations of distinct forms of community-based planning interpreted within broader socio-political contexts. 10.1177/0739456X07306394 KW - poverty KW - poverty_alleviation AU - Mason, David AU - Beard, Victoria PY - 2008/03/01/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0739456X07306394 ER -