Democracia, desigualdades e desenvolvimento humano nos RRDHs/PNUD/ONU: uma reflexão ancorada na obra de Edelberto Torres-Rivas

Democracy, inequalities, and human development in the UNDP/RRDHs/UN: A reflection anchored on the work of Edelberto Torres-Rivas

Abstract

Objective: To decipher the actions, practices and political procedures aimed at the consummation of democracy in the continent, suggested by the elaborators of the RRDH-AL (Regional Reports on Human Development: Latin America), in the last years of the 20th century and the following 15 years of the 21st century, in the light of the work of the Guatemalan sociologist Edelberto Torres-Rivas. Methodology: This is a documental research based on a historical-hermeneutic perspective that seeks to unveil the meaning of the prescriptive propositions contained in the HRHRAL and the social and political context that engendered them. Results: It can be seen that these reports show the commitment of their creators to see some democratizing advances with regard to political representation and participation, as well as to identify whether or not there are possibilities of bringing about lasting processes of deconcentration of power, of broadening access to fundamental and human rights, of commitment to fighting poverty, inequality, and the various faces of violence that have acted as obstacles to the realization of democracy. Limitations: One can point out the challenge of scrutinizing all the diagnoses and prescriptions contained in the RRDH-AL. They are extensive documents that can be interpreted from different epistemological, theoretical, and procedural angles. Conclusions: That the diagnoses and prescriptions of the RRDH-AL are fragile when they are put in the light of the writings of Edelberto Torres-Rivas who, during the period portrayed in the reports, was engaged in the analysis of the attempts both to construct and to obstruct the procedures of power distribution. It is assumed that Torres-Rivas' analyses elucidate the defining processes of political life not only in Central America, but also in many ways in other parts of the Latin American continent.