Pluralização da representação política e legitimidade democrática: lições das instituições participativas no Brasil

Abstract

Resumo: A redemocratização brasileira alterou profundamente as relações entre Estado e sociedade e o casamento entre representação e democracia. As mudanças não ficaram restritas à representação eleitoral e estatal, mas atingiram a esfera de atuação da sociedade civil. A incorporação direta dos cidadãos no processo decisório é uma das mais significativas inovações na democratização do Brasil. Este artigo defende que a nova arquitetura institucional que amplia os canais de conexão entre Estado e sociedade inaugura um novo momento da representação política no país. Atores sociais representam em conjunto com agentes governamentais interesses da sociedade em relação a determinado tipo de política pública, mas sem se tornar Estado, e, viceversa. Para compreensão dos potenciais democratizantes dessas transformações, este artigo propõe, baseado no debate internacional, uma releitura do conceito de representação política, bem como dos seus critérios de legitimidade, a saber, accountability e responsividade. Em seguida, destaca as especificidades da representação nas instituições participativas brasileiras. Argumenta que sua inserção institucional e interseção com arenas estatais e societais são características que impactam o exercício da accountability e da responsividade.Palavras-chave: representação; democracia; legitimidade; instituições participativas Abstract: Brazilian redemocratization has profoundly transformed the relations between State and society and the marriage between democracy and representation. The changes were not restricted to electoral and state representation, but reached civil society's spheres of action. The direct incorporation of citizens into policymaking processes is one of the most significant innovations of democratization in Brazil. This article argues that the new institutional architecture that expands the connections between State and society inaugurates a new moment of political representation in the country. Here, social actors represent along with government agents the interests of society in relation to certain types of public policy, without being incorporated by the state, and vice versa. In order to understand the democratizing potentials of these transformations, this paper proposes, based on international debates, a reinterpretation of the concept of political representation, as well as its criteria of legitimacy, namely, accountability and responsiveness. In addition, the paper highlights the specificities of representation in Brazilian participatory institutions. It argues that its institutional placement and intersection with state and societal arenas are characteristics that influence the practice of accountability and responsiveness.

Atuação da sociedade civil no enfrentamento dos efeitos da COVID-19 no Brasil

“…A third and more recent standpoint, dialogues with the theory of Political Mobilization (Tarrow, 2009) and promotes an articulation between these first two schools of thought. Studies along these lines broaden the debate about the importance of the participation of civil society, by considering multiple forms of political representation, social control and legitimacy within the context of democracies (Almeida, 2014). This debate about participative instances (PIs) has grown in Brazil and Latin America in recent years.…”

Sociedade civil e inovação social na esfera pública: uma perspectiva pragmatista

“…The most productive authors have their affiliation in developed countries, especially the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and Spain. In Brazil, only three articles that address the country's reality were found, which are in Portuguese and are from the field of political science (Bauer, Lotta and Galvão, 2013;Almeida, 2014;Lavalle and Szwago, 2015). None of them directly address the issue of social innovation and all refer to experiences of civil society participation in the public sphere.…”

Brazil, 40 Years of Struggles Over Political Legitimacy Through the Lenses of Representation

“…Brazilian scholars focused on the way representation was built, legitimised and pluralised beyond representative government (Almeida, 2009(Almeida, , 2014(Almeida, , 2015Avritzer, 2007;Borba & Lüchmann, 2010;Faria, 2007;Gurza Lavalle, 2008;Gurza Lavalle et al, 2006a, 2006bMartelli, Almeida, & Lüchmann, 2019;Mendonça, 2008). Gurza Lavalle and Isunza (2011) had a prominent role in claiming that researchers had to go beyond the literature on participation to make sense of what was going on in many of these forums.…”