Governance, democracy and citizenship: their contribution to equity and to social cohesion in Latin America

Abstract

A critical analysis of the concepts of: governance and governability in higher education, as well as their relationship to democracy and citizenship. Also explores the implications on equity policies and social cohesion in Mexico and Latin America. The paper underscores the role of the State and its links to the private sector, questioning the process that intends to privatize the public sphere. In the case of higher education in Latin America and in Mexico, emphasis is placed on the autonomous nature of public universities, maintaining that governance, insofar as government policy for higher education institutions, may become a new form of state intervention and control, at the expense of academic freedom, the diversity of institutions and public higher education, ignoring the specific characteristics of each institution. It states that the challenge of governance consists in dealing with the special features of every country, in terms of the freedom of self-determination, as well as the boost on leadership of the professional authority and on knowledge, above the power of authority and political representation.