Democratic institutions in Brazilian tourism policy: An analysis of council laws

Abstract

Inclusiveness, popular control, considered judgment, and transparency are the consensual “goods” democratic innovations should aim to produce, according to an analytical framework designed to study democratic institutions like policy councils. Tourism councils, although not often studied, represent a public policy with potential for local development and have as a peculiarity the predominance of entrepreneurs. These characteristics lead us to ask how the laws established by the councils contemplate participatory democracy. In this article, we carry out documentary research on the laws behind the creation and regulation of tourism councils in 10 Brazilian cities. Through content analysis, the results show that the rules favor some diversity of the members, with a bias toward the business sector. Popular control is a concern in only half the rules studied. Most councils favor considered judgment and internal transparency but are not concerned with external transparency. Overall, the laws show a lack of clarity in the organization of tourism councils, which affects the council members and society and leads to a failure to provide adequate rules to improve the production of democratic goods.