State Reform and Democratization of Public Management: the Brazilian Experience of the Participatory Budget
Denise Vitale
Since Brazilian redemocratization in the last decades of the 20th century, especially after the promulgation of the Federal Constitution, in 1988, a new experience of direct democracy has been occurring in a growing number of Brazilian municipalities. Through these practices, citizens debate and decide, by themselves, the structure of the public budget, originating the "orçamento participativo" (Participatory Budget). Although this practice of direct deliberation is not specifically established up by the Federal Constitution, it emerges as a new instrument of participatory democracy.
In some aspects it can be compared with the institutes established by the constitutional text -plebiscite, referendum, legislative popular initiative and councils of public policies. However, in other aspects, it presents peculiar characteristics. The function of preparing the project of the budget law, originally attributed to the executive power, is now shared with civil society. When citizens are called to deliberate about the priorities of a certain region of the municipality, they interfere directly in public administration. This configures a process of co-administration in which participatory budgeting practices can be seen as a powerful instrument of participatory democracy. On the one hand the introduction of open assemblies in public places such as schools, squares and community centers enhance direct participation and the public sphere. On the other hand, the presence of both, executive and legislative power -the former responsible to elaborate the project of the budget law, the latter responsible to approve such project-, maintain the constitutional requirement of representative democracy.
The debate about the State reform should involve a wide discussion about contemporary means that can promote democracy. What is at stake is the need to improve legitimacy in democratic practices, through more participation in decision-making processes. The central idea is that the enhancement of transparency and accountability in public administration depends on an effective social control and on the direct involvement of the citizens in political life. Although representative democracy is still a key element in contemporary polities it has to be qualified by direct institutes of participation. Institutional means of social control over the State shall be build in order to establish democracy beyond the ballot.
The aim of this paper is to analyse the structure and the functioning of the participatory budget through a comparative study in six Brazilian municipalities: Porto Alegre/RS, Belo Horizonte/MG, Belém/PA, Campina Grande/PB, Medianeira/PR, and Itapecerica da Serra/SP. The case studies combine cities with different sizes, situated in different Brazilian regions and governed by different political parties (PT, PSB, PSDB and PMDB). This research will contribute to identify institutional possibilities that have been drawn to build a democratic State reform.
Boletín Reforme N° 397
