Patricio Bruno Besana is a Doctor in Political Science from the National University of San Martín, a graduate in Sociology from the University of Buenos Aires, and a postdoctoral fellow of the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET) of Argentina. He investigates issues related to political participation, social and environmental policies, and the relationship between the state and society in contexts of urban poverty. Currently, he works as a teacher at the School of Politics and Government of the National University of San Martín and is a member of the Environment and Politics Group.

Publications:

2016. “El gobierno municipal frente al desafío de la articulación. Políticas sociales y ambientales en el Conurbano Bonaerense”. Co-autores: Guillermo V. Alonso, Ricardo A. Gutiérrez y Gabriela Merlinsky. Buenos Aires: UNSAM Edita.

2016. “Somos locales esta vez: reflexiones sobre las formas en que participan las organizaciones de escala local en la Región Metropolitana de Buenos Aires (2008- 2014).” En El gobierno municipal frente a desafío de la articulación. Políticas sociales y ambientales en el Conurbano Bonaerense. Co-autores: Guillermo V. Alonso, Ricardo A. Gutiérrez y Gabriela Merlinsky, Buenos Aires: UNSAM Edita.

2015. “Pobreza urbana, comunidad local y Estado-socio en Argentina: la provisión de servicios públicos en un asentamiento de la Región Metropolitana de Buenos Aires”. En Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales, 60, (225). 2015.Co-autores: Ricardo Alberto Gutiérrez, Silvia Grinberg. Disponible en: http://www.revistas.unam.mx/index.php/rmspys/article/view/52066/46943

2014. “¿Clientelismo o algo más? Relato sobre el rol de un puntero en la provisión de servicios básicos colectivos en un asentamiento de la Región Metropolitana de Buenos Aires, Argentina”. En Política / Revista de Ciencia Política, 52, (1). 2014. Disponible en: http://www.revistapolitica.uchile.cl/index.php/RP/article/viewFile/33098...

2014. “La nueva política de los pobres: Estado, líderes y organizaciones populares en la provisión de servicios básicos. Un estudio de caso en un asentamiento de la Región Metropolitana de Buenos Aires”. En Desafíos, 26 (1), 297-332. 2014. Disponible en: http://revistas.urosario.edu.co/index.php/desafios/article/view/3187/2506

2012. “Provisión de servicios urbanos básicos en un asentamiento informal y ambientalmente degradado de la Región Metropolitana de Buenos Aires, Argentina”. En Revista Politeia, 49, (35), 35-64. 2012. Disponible en: http://redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=170029498002

Research project as a fellow of CALAS

Title: State and society in urban segregation spaces in Latin America. Lessons from the analysis of informal settlements in the periphery of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Abstract:

For some time now, some of the hopes placed on democratic states have been tempered by more realistic images regarding the disparity of their effects on the territories and social groups they govern. Among the groups that suffer the most from this disparity are those who live in areas of urban segregation in Latin American metropolises. Although the lack of citizen guarantees suffered by those who reside in spaces of urban segregation has been profusely pointed out; it remains to find a positive definition that accounts for the characteristics that democratic states assume day by day in these contexts. Starting from the progress of previous works, this project proposes to analyze the characteristics that the state assumes for those who reside in these spaces, based on the study of informal settlements located on the periphery of Buenos Aires, Argentina. In this regard, I ask myself, how does the state relate to who lives in spaces of urban segregation, and what forms does it usually assume there? In response to this question, I propose the following hypothesis or argument: the state offers itself to the poorest as a partner or sponsor so that the latter seeks to achieve, as a result of their own effort, goods, and services that the former fully guarantees to other social sectors. As a synthesis of this argument, I propose the concept of the partner-state to understand the ways in which the state is present in the settlements and relates to those who reside there.