ORU Fogar’s former President published a book on Radical Democracy

In ‘Rompiendo Paradigmas’, Paúl Carrasco relates his experience with this new governance model at the command of the Azuay Prefecture

Paúl Carrasco, former President of ORU Fogar and Prefect of the Azuay Province, Ecuador, launched his new book, ‘Rompiendo Paradigmas: Democracia radical’. The book reflects the mechanisms, such as citizen participation and social organisation, that the author considers necessary to attain a new governance model called Radical Democracy.

Throughout his 12 years at the helm of the Provincial Government of Azuay, Carrasco has worked in the process of building and implementing this model, which conceives the involvement of citizens as essential for the success of democracy. “The men and women who accompanied me and shared the successes and failures with me are essential in the construction of this new model of governance, conceived for the people and with people, a governance model that will address the real needs of the population”, as the Prefect points out in the book’s foreword.    

‘Rompiendo paradigmas: Democracia radical’ is based on the author’s experience in such democratic process. The book is divided in three parts: the first one, untitled “Democracy”, reviews the recent history of Ecuador with regard to the evolution of democracy in the country. In the second part, the concept of “Radical Democracy” is defined and its practical implementation in the territory is described; finally, the third part offers a proposal to improve the economic situation of the country based on territorial management. Inspired by his experience at the command of the Provincial Government of Azuay, this proposal advocates for reducing bureaucracy, giving financial autonomy to local and regional governments and promoting citizen participation and dialogue spaces, among others.