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Participatory Citizenship and Crisis in Contemporary Brazil pp 33–66Cite as

Understanding the Changes in Governance and Participation in Brazil

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Abstracts

Brazil captured the world’s attention with its accomplishments in democratic governance. In the past decades, the country has become a laboratory of experiences of democratic innovations. In this chapter, I examine the rise and fall of participatory democracy in Brazil. This chapter includes an analysis of the expansion of participatory policies, moving on to examine the reorganization of conservative movements and Michel Temer’s government approach to participatory citizenship. The data presented in this chapter indicates how the rise of right-wing governments more aligned with the international neoliberal agenda and hostile to democratic participation has put in motion a process of dismantling the infrastructure of participatory citizenship.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The Brazilian little miracle (or “milagrinho brasileiro”) is a term I borrowed from the economist Laura Carvalho. In her book, Valsa brasileira: Do boom ao caos econômico, she examines the expansion of the Brazilian economic between 2003 and 2013.

  2. 2.

    Specific social areas, such as education and health, were among the subjects that most mobilized the proponents of amendments. To be taken in consideration by the constitutional assembly, a proposal should put together a minimum 35,000 signatures. The themes with the biggest numbers of submission were the ones dealing with the maintenance of commercial and industrial learning services (SESC, SESI, SENAI, and SENAC) which achieve 1,659,130 signatures and included 5 amendments (PE00036-9). The theme of agrarian reform brought together 1,473,679 subscriptions and 6 amendments, and the area dealing with the rights of children and adolescents put together 1,350,535 signatory and included 4 amendments.

  3. 3.

    For example, the National Health Council was created in 1937 as a consultative council. In 1990, its attributions changed, and it became an elaborator of health policies. In 2006, in the view of the deliberations approved at the 11th National Health Conference and the 12th National Health Conference, the Council elected its members by election process—previously members were appointed by the Minister of Health.

  4. 4.

    Decree 7.388 / 2010 is an important instrument for the LGBTT movement. It has created a specific body in the federal public administration for the LGBTT population. LGBTT policy council at national and municipal levels give opportunities for historically excluded and marginalized to exercise social control and expand the conditions for the achievement of human rights (Pereira and Santos 2017).

  5. 5.

    On April 11, 2019, Bolsonaro signed the presidential decree 9.759, which intends to reduce from 700 to less than 50 the number of councils, including the CNCD/LGBT. I wrote an analysis for the Washington Post about the impacts of this decree; see it here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/06/07/brazils-new-leaders-are-challenging-tradition-participatory-democracy-hereswhy/?utm_term=.935f3fa5b5bd.

  6. 6.

    This data can be accessed in the following link in the Github repository: https://github.com/ValescaL/National-conferences-Conferencias-nacionais.

  7. 7.

    Data on national conferences was obtained through a request to e-SIC (Sistema Eletrônico do Serviço de Informações ao Cidadão) which provides government data. The e-Sic system was created in 2011 by the Access to Information law (12.527).

  8. 8.

    The national conferences held in 2016 were held or schedule before the Senate vote removed President Rousseff from office by a 61–20 in on 31 August 2016.

  9. 9.

    The five national human rights conference in Portuguese: 12ª Conferência Nacional de Direitos Humanos, a 10ª Conferência Nacional dos Direitos da Criança e do Adolescente, 4ª Conferência Nacional dos Direitos da Pessoa Idosa, 4ª Conferência Nacional dos Direitos da Pessoa com Deficiência e a 3ª Conferência Nacional de Políticas Públicas de Direitos Humanos de Lésbicas, Gays, Bissexuais, Travestis e Transexuais.

  10. 10.

    See official declaration: https://congressoemfoco.uol.com.br/especial/noticias/conferencias-conjuntas-de-direitos-humanos-comecam-hoje/.

  11. 11.

    Law number N° 13.260/2016, signed on March 16, 2016 by President Dilma Rousseff. The implementation of anti-terrorism legislation has been the focus of strong criticism from civil society organization since its first drafts. This legislation was again under discussion, as amendment bill PL 5.065 / 2016, which intended to tighten the points of the legislation that were originally vetoed by Dilma Rousseff.

  12. 12.

    FATF has an infamous blacklist includes countries that do not implement their “recommendations”. Being on this blacklist can seriously affect the credit rating of a country, which can be considered not safe to financial transactions (Suarez et al. 2017).

  13. 13.

    Decree 7606 of November 17, 2010.

  14. 14.

    Until 2017, eight terrorist suspects were condemned and jailed for acts of terrorism. Human rights advocates and the families of the condemned criticized the abusive practices of law enforcement. See (in Portuguese): https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/cotidiano/2017/05/1881176-justica-condena-8-brasileiros-acusados-de-terrorismo-antes-da-rio-2016.shtml.

  15. 15.

    In a statement, dozens of entities repudiate the draft bill intended to change the Anti-Terrorism Law In June 2017 (in Portuguese) http://www.global.org.br/blog/congresso-nacional-caminha-para-um-grave-retrocesso-com-alteracoes-na-lei-antiterrorismo/.

  16. 16.

    The government’s plan is to make only Mathematics and Portuguese mandatory in the national curriculum, a concept largely used in the US. In the Brazilian context, this proposal has also to do with the distorted conservative view that humanities and arts studies promote leftists values and “gender ideology” in schools. A final controversial point is that the new curricular base wants to pass some of the government’s responsibility for providing free high school to the private sector, which would include distance learning and the nonessential college diploma for school teachers. A popular petition against the new curriculum had more than 29,000 signatures by August 2018. The main point of criticism against the educational reform can be seen in this letter to the members of the National Education Council from June 2018 (in Portuguese): https://www.scribd.com/document/385328174/Carta-Aos-Conselheiros-Do-CNE-Sobre-a-BNCC-e-a-Reforma-Do-Ensino-Medio.

  17. 17.

    Presidential decree 9.076/2017 of June 7, 2017.

  18. 18.

    The Public Prosecutor’s recommendation on the Cities Conference (in Portuguese): http://pfdc.pgr.mpf.mp.br/atuacao-e-conteudos-de-apoio/temas-de-atuacao/direitos-humanos/atuacao-do-mpf/recomendacao-3-2017-pfdc-mpf.

  19. 19.

    Letter from former council members (in Portuguese), https://exame.abril.com.br/brasil/membros-do-conselho-de-politica-penitenciaria-pedem-demissao/.

  20. 20.

    The National Education Plan is also related to the approval of Constitutional Amendment 95/2016, which freezes social expenditures for 20 years, which directly affects public investment in education.

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  1. Maynooth University, Dublin, Ireland

    Valesca Lima

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Lima, V. (2020). Understanding the Changes in Governance and Participation in Brazil. In: Participatory Citizenship and Crisis in Contemporary Brazil. Governance, Development, and Social Inclusion in Latin America. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19120-7_3

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