The deepening of Brazilian democracy

Abstract

This paper tries to reflect on some of the conditions in which democracy has been deepening in Brazil since 1988, especially in regards to the aspect of the disjunctive between representation and participation. In order to achieving its goals three main issues are addressed: the role of the conselhos gestores, participatory budgeting, and judicialization of politics. The paper is divided in four sections. The first discusses some interpretative basis of the democratic reality in Brazil. The second reflects on both participatory budgeting and conselhos gestores trying to understand in which ways both experiences are related and offer challenges to the traditional debate over participation and representation in democratic theory. The debate on judicialization of politics in Brazil is also discussed through the concept of complex sovereignty (Vianna e Burgos, 2002). In the conclusion, some research hypothesis are presented in order to influencing future debate mainly in regards to societies with low associative tradition and characterized by political practices with an hierarchical and excluding profile. Key words: Democracy; conselhos gestores; participatory budgeting; Judiciary; Brazil.