ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a background of different participatory initiatives implemented in Mexico and analyses how the PRD implemented the 1998 participatory law. It continues with the presentation of the social composition of one municipality, Tlalpan, and a brief analysis of the main problems affecting each of the social groups. The diversity of the neighbourhoods that compose Tlalpan provides a contrasting perspective of the problems faced by each of them, as it is not the same to live in a middle or upper class neighbourhood as to live in a lower class one. In some areas, neighbourhood committees have been transformed into a strategic position for doing local politics. This has happened when community leaders use the Citizen Participation Law for personal interests instead of for public ones or vice-versa, when political parties support certain candidates for achieving political positions.
