In Latin America, and particularly Brazil, inequality and social exclusion continue to plague the quality of democracy despite two decades of transition and consolidation. Still, in Brazil, the Workers’ Party has been remarkably successful over the past decade, explicitly addressing the problem of social exclusion and ‘incomplete citizenship‘. This paper provides an analysis of the case of Porto Alegre covering the four Workers’ Party municipal administrations from 1989 to the present in order to assess the significance of social incorporation and citizenship for the quality of democracy in Brazil. The paper discusses some conceptual notions that are relevant for the question of democracy in Brazil, particularly the role of citizenship and civil society in ‘deepening’ democracy. Then the paper goes into the evolution and dynamics of Porto Alegre's system of ‘participatory budgeting’. The paper's assessment of this experience with respect to its performance, depth and robustness shows that ‘participatory budgeting’ has had positive effects with respect to the provision of public goods services, the quality of governance, and citizens’ participation in what is seen as a new ‘public space’ shared by the local state and grass roots organisations. The paper concludes by relating the case experience to the question of citizenship, civil society and democracy and by reflecting upon its wider implications for the current and future quality of democracy in Brazil.
Democracy and violence in Latin AmericaIn July 2001, the police forces of the Brazilian State of Bahia went on strike. For some commentators, rather than a strike it was a mutiny. Military and civil police officers occupied barracks and police stations, wielding their arms and wearing face-masks that made them look rather like members of the FARC or the EZLN (or ETA for than matter) than civil servants disputing a wage hike. As a result, violence erupted ± especially in the poorer districts of Salvador, the state capital ± and fear took hold of the city. Armed gangs roamed the streets and looted shops ± in some cases with men wearing police uniforms or insignia in their midst. After a few days, the federal government decided to deploy army troops to restore a minimum of order and a sense of safety for the frightened citizenry. The press published relieved reports of confraternization between the policemen and the federal troops; earlier, fear of a violent confrontation between the two forces had been aired. The`strike' in Bahia was settled, but police dissatisfaction was spreading to other states. The federal government considered new legislation to give the army permanent policing prerogatives throughout the national territory. 2 Despite its many problems, Brazil is ranked among those Latin American countries where democracy has taken hold. With the demise of military authoritarianism and left-wing armed opposition, commitment to the consolidation of democratic governance and the rule of law appears to have become widespread throughout the region during the past decade. Already in the late 1970s the institutional dictatorships in South America had started to show fissures and cracks. From the mid-1980s onward, civil governments also came to the fore in Central America, notably in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. Although severely constrained by military tutelage and civil conflict, these new regimes proved to be one of the factors that facilitated Central American peace ß
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