Desdemocratização e participação democrática: a percepção dos agentes dos orçamentos participativos de Rio Grande e São Lourenço do Sul (2013-2016)

Abstract

The thesis aims to analyze the perception of Participatory Budgets (PB) agents in Rio Grande-RS and São Lourenço do Sul-RS in the period between 20013-2016 about the effects of Brazilian dedemocratization. From two analytical axes – democratic regression and civic participation and advancement of neoliberal reason and citizen participation – it presents the process of dedemocratization as a possible obstacle to the consolidation of local democratic participation processes from bottom-up participatory institutions. Based on interviews with representatives of the governments and civil society of the two cities PBs, the perceptions about Brazilian democracy and the importance of cooperation and collectivity notions were analyzed, as a way of verifying the difficulties imposed by democratic regression and neoliberal reason on participation processes. The results demonstrate the perception of PB agents about the democratic regression process in Brazil and its effects on civic participation resulting from anti-politics, as well as the perception of the advancement of neoliberal reason and the consequent subjective weakness of collective action.