The Genesis of Participatory Democracy in Brazil: a Scientific (Re)Construction

Marie-Hélène Sa Vilas Boas

doi:10.1590/1981-3821201700010008

Marie-Hélène Sa Vilas Boas

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/1981-3821201700010008

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Abstract

The rise of participatory democracy has often been explained by the renewal of collective action in Europe and Latin America. This review essay questions the 'movement-based' genesis of Brazilian participatory democracy by analyzing the idea of the state upon which it rests. It argues that the focus on social movements falls short of explaining the spread of participatory experiments, and that it rests on a simplified understanding of the dynamics of the Brazilian State prior to the 1980s. The argument is developed along three axes. First, the essay analyses how the 'classics' of Brazilian political sociology framed the early studies on participatory democracy. Second, it shows that even if the unifying notion of the state has been challenged, progress has focussed on the study of the democratic period. Third, it presents evidence that participation, as a practical category, was an integral part of the military regime's discourse and practice. Finally, the essay defines lines of investigation to reconsider the origins of participatory democracy in Brazil.

Highlights

The rise of participatory democracy has often been explained by the renewal of collective action in Europe and Latin America
If the scope of the analysis has been broadened to obtain a better understanding of the changes generated by participatory institutions in democratic Brazil, the starting point is still related to the emergence of 'new actors', namely new social movements (WAMPLER, 2015) and the party historically associated with them, the Workers Party (AVRITZER, 2009; KECK, 1991)
In order to understand the genesis of participatory democracy in Brazil, the first section analyses the conception of Brazil's history 'constructed' in the classical works of Brazilian political sociology

Summary

Introduction

If the idea of a new and autonomous civil society which emerged in the 1970s has since been challenged by some authors (GURZA LAVALLE and SZWAKO, 2015), the same critical exercise has not occurred for the representation of Brazilian political institutions before the 1980s, at least in the field of participatory democracy studies. The bottom-up renewal of a traditional political field In the early works on participatory democracy in Brazil, the State is defined in line with the classical theory, as an excluding field where clientelistic and authoritarian forms of government prevail.

Results

Conclusion