Digital divides in citizen participation in Latin America: between expanding possibilities and reproducing inequalities
Abstract
The article analyzes how digital divides manifest in two types of citizen participation experiences: institutionalized spaces (the Montevideo Decide platform in Uruguay and the Participatory Budgeting process in Vicente López, Argentina) and non-institutionalized spaces represented by self-organized feminist collectives in Uruguay and Argentina. The study focuses on examining the types of digital divides affecting feminist collectives and institutionalized participatory experiences; the strategies they deploy to confront and mitigate these divides; the similarities and differences in how these divides shape participation; and the ways in which they condition the sustainability of participation across different spaces. Using a qualitative approach, the study draws on interviews conducted with key actors involved in these experiences, within the framework of an RyD project funded by CSIC–UDELAR. Through a comparative analysis, the article identifies differences in access to digital technologies, digital skills, organizational capacities, and strategies of engagement and political influence. The article concludes that digital divides in the analyzed citizen participation processes constitute a complex phenomenon, in which multiple inequalities intersect, thereby limiting the transformative potential of technologies applied to participatory processes.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Mariano Suárez, Natalie Robaina
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