Deliberative Fora and the Democratisation of Social Policies in Brazil

Abstract

This article describes Brazil's approach to social policy in the light of the debates around the crisis of the Welfare State and the possibilities opened up by deliberative fora. It highlights the option for a model of state- society co-management, which aims to guarantee citizenship rights and analyses the challenges of implementing this model. Co-management works through Councils, organised from the local to the federal level, with responsibility for the different policy areas and based on a principle of parity in their composition between representatives of civil society, of service providers and of the government. The analysis highlights the institutional framework of these Management Councils, the degree of civil society organization and the coalitions between state and social actors as variables that should be examined by those interested in promoting the expansion of the available resources directed to social policies and their appropriate management. It concludes by proposing a research agenda to advance this model of co-management in order to achieve a broader process of democratisation and inclusion