Management of "public goods" in times of uncertainty

Contemporary society has been going through an exceptional period of political, economic, social, cultural and institutional transformations, a process that accumulates different positions, evident contradictions, as well as unsatisfied expectations.

The criticism of representative democracy, the centrality of wealth, the growth of poverty, social inequality and the deterioration of living conditions, added to the high rates of corruption and illicit enrichment, as well as high levels of homicidal violence, are part of the scourge of "questioned and deficient Governance" in most Latin American countries.

Chronic poverty is one of the main deficits of the democracies of Latin America, which becomes the greatest obstacle to sustainable development.

As the United Nations Environment Program points out, "environmental wealth is threatened due to the guidelines of the predominant economic development models in Latin America, the current development model has generated economic growth with environmental degradation and social disintegration, to the point that Latin America is currently the most unequal region in the world."

However, these conditions have been impacted in recent times, by the pandemic caused by the coronavirus type 2, the acute respiratory syndrome SARS-CoV-2, which makes the situation more difficult and complex to implement actions for "public goods".

This new condition originates a rethinking of the actions for the management of "public goods", as well as the role and contribution of different actors of society.
From ancient Greece and in Roman Law, the management of "public goods" was understood as the sphere of action of the public authorities, related to the concepts of the public sector and the State, and the philosophy of the common good.

However, from the second half of the last century, the "rationality of social life" became accustomed to the presence of the State as the regulator of society, followed by a stage where the presence of an ideological model inspired by the capacities of the market as the engine of the economy and "social regulator", leaving the society under the "guardianship of the market".

The alteration of the traditional role of the State and the over-determination of the weight of the market, caused new political conditions within the institutional framework, in the conceived search for efficiency and reduction of the state, to transfer to the national or transnational private sector, high public activities. capital remuneration, within some of the conceived "public-private alliances", such as energy, telecommunications, nature reserves, health, education, works and infrastructure maintenance activities.

In the face of a pandemic like the current one, there is a reconfiguration of the role of organizations, in this direction it is shown that state institutions return to a determining role in addressing the basic problems of the population, trying to give attention to issues of public interest.

Now, the new social complexity and the challenging problems it is going through, and given the relative resolution capacity of the states in matters of public interest, requires a rethinking of the traditional ways of approaching problems of public interest.

Under the current uncertainty, it is essential to reconsider the vision of "public goods". At this time, the role and effective participation of different actors in public management take special relevance.

At this time, actions of a truly public State should be promoted, where the space of the public does not run out in the state; in other words, a conceptualization of the public, as the space for the exchange of collective interests, beyond the management capacity of the current government.

In this particular, the organizations of social participation, with a solidarity, collective and community vocation, where the attention to the needs of people is privileged and are part of the construction of solutions, take on relevance. Special mention should be made of the generation, among others, of worker cooperatives, as a mechanism to promote sources of employment, in diverse fields such as technical, operator and miscellaneous services, specialized in health, education and in the production of goods or services, manufacturing and marketing, which contribute to the food security of the countries.

Due to history and experience, being part of organizations close to people’s problems, social economy organizations must be part of the obligatory participation process to accompany the management of public affairs. Public-social alliances must be promoted to address national problems and stimulate the participation of citizen organizations in the development of their communities.

In this sense, it is significant to promote political and social dialogue between the different public, private and social actors, with the aim of jointly identifying the model to follow in the care and construction of solutions to new challenges.

It is necessary to consider that in times of uncertainty the management of "public goods" goes beyond the management of the government in office, for which the alignment of the different actors is required, to act in the public sphere from the management of the various collective interests of society.