The Cooptation of Democracy in Ecuador through the Citizen Participation Council During the Government of Rafael Correa (2009–2017)

The paper analyzes the creation and functioning of the Council for Citizen Participation and Social Control in Ecuador as a central mechanism in the cooptation of democracy during Rafael Correa’s government (2009–2017). Following the 2008 Constitution, a new state function was introduced with the authority to appoint key oversight officials, altering the traditional balance of powers and weakening the legislature. The paper argues that this institutional design enabled the Executive to concentrate power through the capture of the Council for Citizen Participation, facilitated by easily influenced merit-based selection processes and by the systematic linkage of its members with the Executive and other state institutions. It also contends that citizen participation was effectively nationalized, absorbing independent anti-corruption initiatives without producing meaningful outcomes. In the post-Correa period, the Council for Citizen Participation’s instability reflects its structural fragility and its role in the broader deinstitutionalization of Ecuador’s political system.