The Porto Alegre Alternative: Direct Democracy in Action (IIRE (International Institute for Resear)
Language: English
Pages: 176
ISBN: 0745320961
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Porto Alegre in Brazil is famous as the city that pioneered a revolutionary kind of local democracy. Started over a decade ago by the municipal administration of the Brazilian Workers' Party (PT), this process -- called the 'participatory budget' -- has steadily attracted attention from around the world, including the UN and even the financial press. It was the main reason Porto Alegre came to host the first three World Social Forums in 2001, 2002 and 2003. This is the first book in English that allows the creators of the participatory budget to explain the process for themselves -- what it is, how it is achieved, what benefits it brings. Written by key figures from Porto Alegre -- including the former mayor and the head of the City Planning Office -- it provides a unique insight into the revolutionary democratic changes that have proved such a success. It is also a practical how-to-do-it guide that will help local communities and policy-makers put these ideas into action. The Porto Alegre experience shows that a truly different kind of political democracy is possible -- it presents a real alternative to the current model of liberal representative democracy that has been eroded by unelected transnational institutions and multinational corporations. This book shows how a more positive and genuinely democratic future is within our reach.
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3:50:15 pm 24 The Participatory Budget – Origins, Aims and Ambiguities on greater importance since then. Addressing them is an inescapable task for those seeking to restate the case for socialism in the twentyfirst century, in an idiom that makes sense to the new generations coming to politics after Seattle and the immense movement against war in Iraq. DILEMMAS OF A LULA GOVERNMENT The most immediate manifestation of this contradiction is the strategic dilemma that faced the Brazilian.
‘democracy’ is promoted worldwide as the best form of government, in practice the classic political system of representative democracy shows signs of exhaustion. In a market society, without any sort of direct social control over elected representatives, the state becomes an easy prey to private interests. Two central tasks have to be undertaken, therefore. Firstly, society’s confidence in the state’s ability to act as a tool of social change needs to be restored. Secondly, there is a need to.
Delegates visit the location of each proposed project to get a better understanding of the need, feasibility, etc. 44 full councillors from the regions and thematic areas, one each from the Union of Neighbourhood Associations and the Municipal Workers’ Trade Union, and two representatives of the mayor’s office with voice but no vote. Each community organises its own meetings, as it sees fit, to discuss and decide the specific investments it wants in its area, in line with the four overall.
Local government will seek to encourage discussion of cross-sectoral policies to overcome inequalities of gender, race, age and sexual orientation. Of course, even when integrated into a dynamic of municipal planning, as here, the participatory budget is not itself an instrument of social change. Only a much deeper transformation can resolve the contradiction between the PB and prevailing inequalities and injustice. However, the PB does distribute resources better and apply them more efficiently.
For popular and democratic goals. Such a strategy does not depend on a centralising state. In fact, decentralisation, municipal and provincial autonomy and strengthening local and regional government conflict directly with the authoritarian centralism of neoliberalism. THESIS V Local governments are also important as a way of building political hegemony, through participatory democracy and by involving the population in organising and developing public services to meet their daily needs. In this.