Development Community Councils (COCODE)
The Peace Accords of 1996 and the decentralized institutions fostered by the neoliberal paradigm of which the are part raised many hopes in Guatemalan and international civil society. However, examining the case of the COCODE (Development Community Council) in a rural community of North-East Guatemala, I will show the failures of an undifferentiated application of the principle of decentralization. The latter did not take into account the political trajectories of actors who would take over the new decentralized institutions, or the social processes that modelled the ways these actors would understand and perceive politics in the region. An example of this is the profound legacy of war and the clandestine culture of impunity that was modelled during the years of military regimes. It can be said, therefore, that the principle of decentralization failed in its initial ambition. Relying on field research carried out between 2011 and 2013, I will show how decentralization constitutes an « unfinished democratization ».