Democracy in the periphery: recipes for democratic revitalization in the light of the Brazilian reality.

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5433/2176-6665.2003v8n1p9

Keywords:

Democratic theory, Participative democracy, Participative budget

Abstract

Electoral democracy had an extraordinary expansion in the last decades. In Western countries, it was converted into the only political régime able to conquest legitimacy. But most of its problems remain unresolved. The idea of "rule of the people" earns almost universal adhesion, but representative institutions are increasingly discredited. Electoral turnout is lowering, the influence of political parties was eroded and common citizens think they are impotent. Peripheral countries, like Brazil, have additional problems. Brazilian democracy is young and needs "consolidation". Its economic and social politics are being testing, in a world that apparently reduced the space of action for nation-states, especially peripheral ones. This article essays a rereading of recent proposals to revitalize democracy (deliberationism, communitarism, and others), observing the obstacles that political, economic and social conditions of countries like Brazil put to the accomplishment of alternatives thought from the reality of the developed world.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Luís Felipe Miguel, Universidade de Brasília - UNB

Doctor in Social Sciences from the Universidade Estadual de Campinas - UNICAMP. Professor at the Universidade de Brasília - UNB.

References

ABERS, Rebecca Neaera. lnve/lting local democracy: grassroots politics in Brazil. Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 2000.

AVRITZER, Leonardo. O orçamento participativo: as experiências de Porto Alegre e Belo Horizonte. In: DAGNINO, Evelina (org.). Sociedade civil e espaços públicos no Brasil. São Paulo: Paz e Terra, 2002.

AVRITZER, Leonardo. Teoria democrática e deliberação pública. Lua Nova, São Paulo, n. 5O, p. 25-46, 2000.

BAGDIKIAN, Ben H. The media monopoly. S.ed. Boston: Beacon Press, 1997.

BAIERLE, Sérgio Gregório. A explosão da experiência: emergência de um novo princípio ético-político nos movimentos populares urbanos em Porto Alegre. In: ALVAREZ, Sonia; DAGNINO, Evelina; ESCOBAR, Arturo (org.). Cultura e política nos movimentos sociais latino-americanos: novas leituras. Belo Horizonte: Ed. UFMG, 2000.

BOHMAN, James. Public deliberation: pluralism, complexity, and democracy. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1996.

COHEN, Joshua. Democracy and liberty. In: ELSTER, Jon (ed.). Deliberative democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.

DAHL, Robert. Um prefácio à democracia econômica. Rio de Janeiro: Jorge Zahar, 1989.

DAHL, Robert. A democratic paradox? Political Science Quaterly, New York, v. 59, n. 1, p. 35-40, 2000.

ELSTER, Jon. The market and the forum: three varieties of political theory. In: BOHMAN, James; REHG, William (ed.). Deliberative democracy: essays on reason and politics. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1997.

FRASER, Nancy. What's criticai about criticai lheory? The case of Habermas and gender. In: FRASER, Nancy. Unruly practices: poer, discourse and gender in contemporary social theory. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1989.

HUNTINGTON, Samuel P. A terceira onda: a democratização no final do século XX. São Paulo: Ática, 1994.

MANIN, Bernard. The principies of representative government. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

MANSBRIDGE, Jane J. Beyond adversary democracy. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1983.

McCHESNEY, Robert W. Rich media, poor democracy: communication politics in dubious times. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1999.

MIGUEL, Luis Felipe. Um ponto cego nas teorias da democracia: os meios de comunicação. BIB - Revista Brasileira de Informação Bibliográfica em Ciências Sociais, Rio de Janeiro, n. 49, p. 51-77, 2000.

MIGUEL, Luis Felipe. Representação política em 3-D: elementos para uma teoria ampliada da representação política. Revista Brasileira de Ciências Sociais, São Paulo, n. 51, 2003. No prelo.

NORRIS, Pippa (ed.). Criticai citizens: global support for democratic governance. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.

PATEMAN, Carole. The civic culture: a philosophic critique. Em The disorder of women. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1989.

SANDEL, Michael J. Liberalism and the limits of justice. 2.ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.

SANTOS, Boaventura de Sousa (org.). Democratizar a democracia: os caminhos da democracia participativa. Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, 2002a.

SANTOS, Boaventura de Sousa. Produzir para viver: os caminhos da produção não capitalista. Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, 2002b.

SANTOS, Boaventura de Sousa. Orçamento participativo em Porto Alegre: para uma democracia redistributiva. In: SANTOS, Boaventura de Souza (org.). Democratizar a democracia: os caminhos da democracia participativa. Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, 2002c.

VIDAL-NAQUET, Piehe. Os gregos, os historiadores, a democracia: o grande desvio. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2002.

YOUNG, Iris Marion. Activist cballenges to deliberative democracy. Political Theory, Thousand Oaks, v. 29, n. 5, p. 670-90, 2001.

Published

2003-03-04

How to Cite

MIGUEL, Luís Felipe. Democracy in the periphery: recipes for democratic revitalization in the light of the Brazilian reality. Mediações - Revista de Ciências Sociais, Londrina, v. 8, n. 1, p. 9–23, 2003. DOI: 10.5433/2176-6665.2003v8n1p9. Disponível em: https://ojs.uel.br/revistas/uel/index.php/mediacoes/article/view/9080. Acesso em: 21 nov. 2024.

Issue

Section

Articles