Participatory budgeting in Brazilian cities: limits and possibilities in building democratic institutions

Geography and Participatory Democracy in Brazil: Porto Alegre and Belo Horizonte Compared

“…In 1996, as a result of infighting amongst the PT and Frente Popular, the PT lost the mayor's office to their former Frente Popular partner, the Brazilian Socialist Party. However, the two parties were soon able to patch up their differences and the PT won back the mayoralty in 2000 and has held the mayor's office ever since 4 (Avritzer 2000, Avritzer 2002, Nylen 1999, Souza 2001. In both cities the PT introduced participatory budgeting shortly after taking power.…”

“…Their claims are backed up by empirical data (shown in Table 4) which show high levels of participation from lower socio-economic groups, contrasting significantly with traditional municipal politics (Hagopian 1996). In both Porto Alegre and Belo Horizonte this opening of political space has come hand in hand with a reduction of clientelist politics and corruption in the cities (Abers 2000, Avritzer 2000, De Sousa Santos 1998, Goldfrank 2003, Navarro 1998, Souza 2001, Wainwright 2003, Wampler 2002). In the case of clientelism, Avritzer (2002c, 1) surveyed community groups in both Porto Alegre and Belo Horizonte on this matter.…”

“…As such, and because of the fact that any project approved by the participatory budget would have to pass through it, the agency was in a position to hinder the operation of the budgeting process. Patrus Ananias (the PT mayor) solved the problem of SUDECAP by replacing the agency's existing board of directors with a new board that was much more amenable to the participatory budget (Souza 2001). While much less has been written about bureaucratic resistance in Porto Alegre, Souza (2001) notes that bureaucratic resistance lead to the creation of GAPLAN, a special municipal department dealing with, amongst other work, with participatory budgeting.…”

“…In Porto Alegre the budget process is held annually, and the entire new investments budget is decided through it. In Belo Horizonte the process is held every two years and only 50 per cent of the new investments budget is allocated (Prefeitura de Belo Horizonte n.d., Souza 2001).…”

“…This appears to be because in Porto Alegre the PT made the participatory budget a flagship project. Furthermore, the participatory budget in Belo Horizonte only involves 50 per cent of the new investments budget, and thus is less of a challenge to the dominance of historical elites (Souza 2001).…”