Brazil has been the locus of implementation of various tools and participatory spaces after the period of democratization and promulgation of the Constitution of 1988. Many studies have been conducted to discuss the importance of these spaces and, more recently, the quality of participation and the impact in strengthening democracy (Avritzer 2009; DAGNINO, 2011; LAVALLE, 2011).
In May 2014 Decree 8243 of the Presidency of the Republic sought to institute the National Policy for Social Participation (NPSP) aiming to consolidate participation as a method of government through the organization of forums and social participation mechanisms existing within the federal government. Generally speaking it aimed to define the minimum guidelines to be observed by federal managers to use these social participation tools as part of its operations, for the preparation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of programs and policies between the federal government and civil society in spaces like public policy councils, national conferences, ombudsmen, public hearings and consultations, virtual environments, among others.
The decree generated controversy and discussion in the media, and subsequently was rejected by the House of Representatives. The contrary coalitions brought several arguments as, for example, it was a Bolivarian decree, autocratic and authoritarian trying to impose a mechanism that passed over the Congress and which sought to reverse the logic of representative democracy. Because it was an election year, the decree was also seen as a purpose to coopt and re-coopt unions, non-governmental organizations and other civil society organizations. The government countered that the decree did not seek to create more instances, but organizing and integrating existing ones through a policy with guidelines and monitoring.
The creation of a Nationwide policy of social participation is an innovation that should be studied in-depth raising its potentialities and limitations. Thus, this article aims to: (i) present the trajectory of the NPSP (ii) analyze the attempt to institutionalize the NPSP through the lenses of the regulative, normative and cognitive cultural pillars of Scott (2001, 2008) in order to identify and characterize the variables that influenced the process. This study aims to show how regulatory, normative and cultural-cognitive elements worked together and materialize through different variables that impacted the process of non-institutionalization of PNPS, contributing to understand the existing challenges in creating a policy of social participation, the fragility of participation mechanisms in Brazil and the tension between Participatory Democracy and Representative Democracy.
References
BRASIL. Decreto nº 8243, de 23 de maio de 2014.
AVRITZER, Leonardo (Org.). Experiências nacionais de participação social. Minas Gerais: UFMG; São Paulo: Cortez, 2009.
DAGNINO, E. Civil society in Latin America. In: EDWARDS, Michael (Ed.). The Oxford handbook of civil society. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011, p.122-133.
LAVALLE, A. G. Após a Participação: Nota Introdutória. Lua Nova, São Paulo, 84, 2011, p.13-23.
SCOTT, Richard. Institutions and organizations. London: Sage, 2001.
SCOTT, Richard. Institutions and organizations: ideas and interests. London: Sage, 2008.
