Giving Up Autonomy: The Associational Movement at a Crossroads. The Example of Local Development Initiatives in Portugal

This text starts from analyses that point to the deep crisis of associationalism, a crisis that, to a great extent, derives from the option for techno-instrumental orientations, to the detriment of civic & solidarity logics, as well as from the weakening of the political dimension. It seeks to give a contribution to the understanding of some of the trends that are currently becoming established within associationalism in Portugal, based on an analysis of the dominant meanings given to it by a number of specific initiatives (Local Development Initiatives -- LDI). The underlying thesis points to ambivalence as one of the most distinctive features of local development associations, re-actualizing dialectical tensions that are at the centre of the paradigm of western modernity. 21 References. Adapted from the source document.