Democracy Seeking Csos'social Performance

In countries with a recent democracy , as Mexico , where democratic rules and procedures are still not entrenched , and the practices and values that sustain democracy are not predominant , civil society organizations have an important role to play as monitoring mechanisms of succession and the functioning of citizen control instruments , and to propose topics for the public agenda.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the performance of organizations promoting democracy in different areas, including : transparency , accountability , election monitoring and democratization issues on the public agenda . The analytical framework is based  on three pillars: 1) practical or functional performance , grounded on criteria of efficiency and effectiveness; 2) organizational performance , centered on criteria of legitimacy and involving internal decision rules , participation schemes , decision-making mechanisms , cohesion and 3) the relationship with the environment, where criteria of relevance and external legitimacy are used.

This paper will focus on social performance as evaluation criteria, that is, in contributions to the public good, taking into account the costs and possible negative consequences that the action of these organizations can produce. We assess the way CSOs carry out their activities promote positive outcomes for the public good, taking into account both positive or negative consequences may bring their actions in another area. Is also important to identify the factors that facilitate obtaining such positive results. We will analyse three CSO types: 1) those that are coordinated with international organizations and their objectives, recruitment forms and action strategies are taken from those organizations, although they have operational autonomy; 2) those associations which set their own goals and forms of action, irrespective of its ties with international organizations and 3) a third type, constituted under a model of corporate organization, rather than associative.