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Key Text Brazilian Experiences of Participation and Citizenship: A Critical Look

Author: Andrea Cornwall, Jorge Romano, Alex Shankland
Date: 2008
Size: 59 pages (273 KB)

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Summary

What lessons does Brazil offer for democratisation in other countries? This study from the Institute of Development Studies looks at the meanings and practices of participation and citizenship in the north and north east of Brazil. Participatory budgeting, sectoral policy councils and conferences at each tier of government have provided spaces for new meanings and expressions of citizenship and democracy. These innovations may offer lessons on the pre-conditions for effective participatory governance as well as on institutional design.

Although there are challenges for further democratisation in Brazil, income inequality has fallen by four per cent since the start of the Lula government. Mobilisation has secured new rights for the most marginalised workers and improvements in health outcomes have been impressive.

Brazil’s democratic institutions are products of a particular culture and history, and cannot be extracted as exportable models that would work in countries with different political cultures and histories. Other findings include the following:

Left-wing thinking and parties of the Left have played a significant role in shaping the process of democratisation and in securing some of its gains.
There has been a move to extend the reach of democratising institutions throughout society, engaging people with the processes of governance as citizens with rights, rather than as consumers of services, beneficiaries or clients.
Social movements and radical democratic politicians have played a vital role in initiating institutional change.
As these institutions mature they pass from being associated with a particular government to becoming embedded in the fabric of the society, in ways that can make them resilient to attempts to dismantle them.
The Government invests in publicising its participatory institutions and in providing resources.
The Ombudsman’s Office and the National Congress Committee on Participatory Legislation send a signal to citizens that their ‘right to have rights’ is something that the state takes seriously.

Although Brazil’s institutional models are not necessarily transferable to other countries, some lessons emerge. Firstly, an ideological commitment to popular participation is important as part of a broader vision of democratic governance. Furthermore:

Strong and mobilised civil society organisations (CSOs) are needed to make participatory governance viable. Alliances between a progressive state and CSOs amplify the democratising scope of civil society engagement.
Where CSOs deliver services on behalf of the state, they should be subject to as much public scrutiny as state institutions. Where they claim to represent others, they should be subject to the demands of democratic accountability.
Legislative frameworks and constitutional guarantees are important so that participation passes from being something that government can selectively use to consult with its citizens, to a binding obligation.
Realising rights depends on citizens being aware of the rights they have and being able to mobilise to claim them.
Investments are needed in publicity, training and everyday material support to maintain participatory governance institutions.

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Source: Cornwall A., Romano J., Shankland A., 2008, 'Brazilian Experiences of Participation and Citizenship: A Critical Look', Institute of Development Studies, Brighton
Author: Andrea Cornwall , A.Cornwall[at]sussex.ac.uk
Organisation: Institute of Development Studies , http://www.ids.ac.uk