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Coelho, VSP, Thompson, L & R, Mohanty
IDS Working Paper, Number 359
Democracy is considered the common ‘currency’ of state and civil society interaction in middle-economic-power states ...
Democracy is considered the common ‘currency’ of state and civil society interaction in middle-economic-power states such as India, Brazil and South Africa. In fact the IBSA (India, Brazil, South Africa) link, as it is understood in international relations, is premised upon certain political and economic similarities between these three states in the South, not least their democratic political foundations.1 In this paper we are looking at the IBSA states from a citizen-centric point of view, embarking upon a comparative analysis of how states deal with citizens’ demands from within. Given the broad similarities of democratic political structures, the emerging economies that make the three states middle-income and the persistent socioeconomic inequalities in these countries, such an analysis of society-state relationships in the IBSA countries will have value for understanding how democracies can be deepened in order to make states responsive to citizens’ demands. This paper consolidates and synthesises the insights from an international research project that has investigated citizen participation and the deepening of democratic processes in the southern countries, including the IBSA countries. The aim of this synthesis paper is to revisit the research findings from this project to explore the interaction between mobilisation and the state as they continue to respond, influence and reconstitute each other in the three formal democracies under study in India, Brazil and South Africa.
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Coelho, VSP
In this paper I argue that citizen involvement helped to promote a more equitable distribution of public health servi...
In this paper I argue that citizen involvement helped to promote a more equitable distribution of public health services in Brazil. This achievement involved a balance of contributions from social actors and health system managers in forging policy innovations and institutional arrangements that linked bottom up innovation with national policy leveraging and decentralized implementation. The paper briefly describes this cycle and its relation with the implementation of a national network of forums for citizen involvement in health policy, inquiring in more detail the conditions that favor the association between these forums and the policy making process. Our results do not corroborate the idea that deliberative arenas should be insulated from political passions; rather, they suggest that participation of mobilized social actors contributes to the effectiveness of these forums. This contribution happens both due to the knowledge that these actors bring about problems in the area and to their insertion in networks that connect forums to a wide set of social organizations and political, governmental, and health institutions, which in turn facilitate the dissemination and negotiation of the proposals and demands formulated by the forums. Despite these achievements the results also call attention to a slight increase in inequality in the distribution of basic services between the poorest regions.
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Coelho, VSP, Favareto, A, Galvaneze, C, Menino, F & Y, Kawamura
In VSP Coelho & B von Lieres (eds) Mobilizing for Democracy: Citizen Action and the Politics of Public Participation. London: Zed
Due to copyright restrictions, we can only share the first three pages of this chapter online. The book can be ordere...
Due to copyright restrictions, we can only share the first three pages of this chapter online. The book can be ordered from Zed Books at www.zedbooks.co.uk/citizenship or purchased at the IDS bookstore.
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Coelho, VSP & A, Favareto
In L Thompson & C Tapscott (eds) Citizenship and Social Movements: Perspectives from the Global South. London: Zed
Due to copyright restrictions, we can only share the first three pages of this chapter online. The book can be ordere...
Due to copyright restrictions, we can only share the first three pages of this chapter online. The book can be ordered from Zed Books at www.zedbooks.co.uk/citizenship or purchased at the IDS bookstore.
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Coelho, VSP, Ferraz, A, Fanti, F & M, Ribeiro
In VSP Coelho & B von Lieres (eds) Mobilizing for Democracy: Citizen Action and the Politics of Public Participation. London: Zed
Due to copyright restrictions, we can only share the first three pages of this chapter online. The book can be ordere...
Due to copyright restrictions, we can only share the first three pages of this chapter online. The book can be ordered from Zed Books at www.zedbooks.co.uk/citizenship or purchased at the IDS bookstore.
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Mohanty, R, Coelho, VSP, Thompson, L, Pant, M, Shankland, A, Favareto, A, Tapscott, C & L , Piper
African Centre for Citizenship and Democracy: Cape Town
Democracy is considered the common ‘currency’ of state and civil society interaction in middle-economic-power states ...
Democracy is considered the common ‘currency’ of state and civil society interaction in middle-economic-power states such as India, Brazil and South Africa. In fact the IBSA (India, Brazil, South Africa) link, as it is understood in international relations, is premised upon certain political and economic similarities between these three states in the South, not least their democratic political foundations.1 In this paper we are looking at the IBSA states from a citizen-centric point of view, embarking upon a comparative analysis of how states deal with citizens’ demands from within...
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Coelho, VSP & M, Barnes
Health Expectations, 12: 226-36.
This document is not currently available
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Coelho, VSP & A, Favareto
World Development, 36(12): 2937-52
Through the analysis of two participatory forums active in the Vale do Ribeira (Brazil)—the Committee for the Managem...
Through the analysis of two participatory forums active in the Vale do Ribeira (Brazil)—the Committee for the Management of Water Resources (CGRH) and the Consortium of Food Safety and Local Development (Consad)—this article discusses the argument that "well designed" institutions enable the inclusion of a broader spectrum of actors in political debates, as well as reduce the asymmetries between them thereby facilitating the negotiation and agreement of politically and economically viable projects that would help to encourage development in the region. The two forums were observed in terms of how they dealt with two polemical regional issues: the proposal to build a big dam, a process which has been going on for more than a decade and the definition of a program of sustainable development capable of reconciling environmental conservation and growth in the local economy. The analysis suggests that during the period of research, these forums recreated in the participatory sphere coalitions that were already present in the regional political scene, thereby acting as an extension of the party political game rather than as arenas where new arrangements of actors could agree on alternative projects. From a theoretical perspective, this result raises again the question of the origin and the change of institutions, in that it questions the mechanisms necessary for the creation of institutions explicitly designed to alter the status quo.
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Coelho, VSP & A da Silva, Favareto
In E Dagnino & L Tatagiba (eds) Sociedade Civil, Participacao e Deliberacao na America Latina, Argos: Sao Paulo
This document is not currently available
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Coelho, VSP & A, Favareto
In E Dagnino & L Tatagiba (eds) Sociedade Civil, Participacao e Deliberacao na America Latina. Argos
This document is not currently available
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Coelho, VSP
Reinventing Development Research. IDS Bulletin. Vol. 38. No. 2. March; pp. 98-100. Brighton: IDS
The IDS40 Roundtable in Brazil recognised economic growth, cash transfer programmes such as ‘Bolsa Família’, and equi...
The IDS40 Roundtable in Brazil recognised economic growth, cash transfer programmes such as ‘Bolsa Família’, and equity in access to welfare policies, as the main mechanisms to promote development and reduce poverty and social inequality. However, at the IDS40 conference, I could not help but be surprised by the challenging proposal put forward by Wolfgang Sachs that we should rethink the question of equity not in terms of growing consumption, but rather through an effort to reduce it. One of the reactions to Sachs’ intriguing suggestion came from an Indian
colleague who drew attention to the practical difficulties of realising such a proposal. After all, he argued, how could politicians and governments stand up in front of their constituencies and be re-elected for promising to reduce consumption? The findings of the Brazil Roundtable and this comment at the conference are testimony to the enduring force of the idea of development as a project of growth and equity that can be achieved through nation states. But Sachs’ proposal also highlights the fact that new ideas about ‘what development should be’ are gaining space in this age-old debate.
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Coelho, VSP & N, Silva
In S Shantayanan & I Widlund, The Politics of Service Delivery in Democracies. Better Services for the Poor. EGDI, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Stockholm
This document is not currently available
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Coelho, VSP, Favareto, A da Silva, Galvaneze, C & F, Menino
In J Bengoa (ed.) Territorios Rurales - Movimientos Sociales y Desarrollo Territorial rural en América Latina. 1 ed. Santiago de Chile: Catalonia
This document is not currently available
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Coelho, VSP & A, Cornwall
In A Cornwall & VSP Coelho (eds) Spaces for Change? The Politics of Citizen Participation in New Democratic Arenas. London: Zed.
This book addressed one of the biggest challenges of our age: that of building democratic politics where all can real...
This book addressed one of the biggest challenges of our age: that of building democratic politics where all can realise their rights and claim substantive citizenship. In recent years, innovations in governance have created a plethora of new democratic spaces in many countries. Yet there remains a gap between the intention to institutionalise participation and the reality of exlusion of poorer and marginalised citizens. Through case studies of a diversity of institutions - hospital facility boards in South Africa, a national-level deliberative process in Canada, sectoral management councils and community groups in Brazil, India, Mexico and Bangladesh, participatory budgeting in Argentina, NGO-created forums in Angola and Bangladesh, community forums in the UK, and new intermediary spaces created by social movements in South Africa - contributors examin how the democratic potential of these new spaces might be enhanced.
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Coelho, VSP
Novos Estudos, 78: 77-92.
Este artigo discute a experiência brasileira dos Conselhos de Saúde. De início, faz uma revisão da literatura que ana...
Este artigo discute a experiência brasileira dos Conselhos de Saúde. De início, faz uma revisão da literatura que analisa os fatores que contribuem para a “legitimidade democrática” dessas experiências. Em seguida, são apresentados os resultados de um estudo realizado com os Conselhos Locais de Saúde das 31 subprefeituras da cidade de São Paulo. Na conclusão, discute-se, à luz desses resultados, a importância relativa dos diferentes fatores identificados pela literatura como centrais para o estabelecimento da legitimidade democrática desses “novos espaços democráticos”.
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Coelho, VSP
In A Cornwall & VSP Coelho (eds) Spaces for Change? The Politics of Citizen Participation in New Democratic Arenas. London: Zed
Due to copyright restrictions, we can only share the first three pages of this chapter online.
Due to copyright restrictions, we can only share the first three pages of this chapter online.
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Coelho, VSP
International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 30(3): 656-71
Contemporary discussions of ‘democratic innovation experiences’ have evolved into a heated debate about how effective...
Contemporary discussions of ‘democratic innovation experiences’ have evolved into a heated debate about how effective these ‘new spaces’ are in including ordinary citizens, particularly those traditionally marginalized and excluded. This article focuses on the Brazilian experience with Health Councils and begins by discussing the conditions that have been pointed out by previous studies as favouring the inclusion of these groups in these ‘new spaces’. On the basis of these studies, one question that remains is about the democratic legitimacy of these experiences, as it seems that there is a bias towards the inclusion of those that already have political ties with the traditional political system. The local Health Councils in 31 subprefeituras (new administrative subdivisions) of the city of São Paulo were researched and a continuum was observed: ranging from a small number of one or two sectors that have historical ties with political parties included in the council to a far more diversified composition, including up to seven sectors with autonomous representatives and various types of association. Using these results as their starting-point, the analyses conclude with a discussion of the relative significance of the factors previously identified as central in establishing the democratic legitimacy of these ‘new democratic spaces’.
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Coelho, VSP, Pozzoni, B & M, Cifuentes
In J Gastil & P Levine (eds) The Deliberative Democracy Handbook. San Francisco: Jossey - Bass
The 1988 Brazilian Constitution, which established the formal transition to democracy, sanctioned the decentralizatio...
The 1988 Brazilian Constitution, which established the formal transition to democracy, sanctioned the decentralization of policymaking and established mechanisms for citizens to participate in the formulation, management, and monitoring of social policies. Hundreds of thousands of interest groups worked throughout the country as the constitution was being drafted and collected half a million signatures to demand the creation of participatory democratic mechanisms.
Underpinning such demand was the belief that by opening spaces for citizens to participate, the policymaking process would become more transparent and accountable and social policies would better reflect the needs of the citizens. This legal foundation promoted the development of an extensive institutional...
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Coelho, VSP, de Moraes Pedros, M, da Silva, NC & M, Zanata Thibes
CEBRAP
This document is not currently available
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Coelho, VSP, Verissimo, J & E, Rombauer van den Bosch
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Coelho, VSP
IDS Bulletin, 35(2)
This article examines the experience of municipal and district health councils in the city of São Paulo in the light ...
This article examines the experience of municipal and district health councils in the city of São Paulo in the light of the literature on citizen participation in Brazil. The literature has attributed the success or failure of participatory mechanisms either to the degree of civil society involvement, or to the level of commitment to such mechanisms on the part of the political authorities. This begs the question of what happens where both factors are present, but the participatory mechanisms nevertheless remain relatively ineffectual as institutions for promoting the interests of the excluded. Drawing on research into participation in São Paulo’s health councils, the article argues that the success of this type of participatory mechanism depends not only on the involvement and commitment of civil society and state actors, but also on their willingness and ability to promote institutional innovations that guarantee
clear rules of political representation and processes of discussion and decision making that lead to effective participation by representatives who command less technical knowledge and fewer
communicative resources.
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Coelho, VSP
in Ziccardi, Alicia (ed.) Participación ciudadana y políticas sociales en el ámbito local. Indesol, México D.F.
El artículo hace una revisión de los trabajos sobre participación ciudadana, identificando dos grupos de autores: los...
El artículo hace una revisión de los trabajos sobre participación ciudadana, identificando dos grupos de autores: los que atribuyen el suceso o fracaso de los mecanismos participativos al grado de movilización de la sociedad civil, y los que asocian esos resultados al tipo de compromiso de las autoridades políticas con esos mecanismos. A partir de esa revisión se plantea la pregunta que sigue: como esos actores, sociales y estatales, consiguen transformar instituciones poco efectivas en instituciones que contribuyen para hacer valer los intereses de los menos favorecidos? En un intento de responder la cuestión se presenta un estudio sobre los consejos de salud – municipal y distritales – en el Município de São Paulo y se argumenta que el suceso de los mecanismos participativos está asociado no solo al grado de movilización y compromiso de los actores citados, sino también a su interés y capacidad de promover innovaciones institucionales que garanticen reglas claras de representación política, así como también procesos de discusión y toma de decisiones que lleven a una participación efectiva de los representantes con menos recursos argumentativos y conocimientos técnicos.
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Coelho, VSP
In Schattan P. Coelho, V & Nobre, M (eds) Participação e Deliberação: Teoria Democrática e Experiências Institucionais no Brasil Contemporâneo. Sao Paulo: 34 Letras
A participação foi incorporada à agenda política brasileira com a Constituição de 1988. Nessa Constituição está inscr...
A participação foi incorporada à agenda política brasileira com a Constituição de 1988. Nessa Constituição está inscrita a aposta em um Estado de Bem Estar abrangente que seria viabilizado a partir de três estratégias principais: a ampliação de financiamento para as políticas sociais, a descentralização e a participação social3. Nesse projeto o papel da participação social seria tornar o processo de formulação e gestão das políticas públicas mais permeável às reais demandas da população e, também, mais transparente e aberto ao controle social. Essa contribuição seria decisiva para aproximar essas políticas das reais necessidades da população e contornar problemas de falta de qualidade e iniqüidade. Esse artigo se concentra na analise da implementação, a partir dos anos 90, dos conselhos de saúde enquanto instituições que devem viabilizar a participação na política de saúde e argumenta que a participação social não depende apenas, como tem se sugerido na literatura, do grau de organização e comprometimento dos atores da sociedade civil e do Estado. Mas que depende, também, do interesse, e da capacidade desses atores de definirem as condições de legitimidade democrática desses espaços, seja através do estabelecimento de regras e procedimentos para a escolha dos que representarão a sociedade civil nesses espaços, seja através da organização, em seu interior, de processos de discussão e tomada de decisão que conduzam à efetiva participação dos representantes que dispõem de menos conhecimentos técnicos e recursos comunicativos.
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Coelho, VSP & J, Verissimo
In L Avritzer (ed) Participation in Sao Paulo. UNESP (in Portuguese)
O Brasil conta com uma legislação que franqueia à sociedade civil a participação nos processos de definição e gestão ...
O Brasil conta com uma legislação que franqueia à sociedade civil a participação nos processos de definição e gestão das políticas públicas. Aqueles que defenderam a adoção dessa legislação buscavam avançar na direção da inclusão de setores tradicionalmente excluídos do processo de formulação e gestão das políticas públicas para, com isso, torná-las mais abertas às reais demandas da população e ao controle social. No sentido de atender a legislação e viabilizar esse projeto, foi criada nos últimos quinze anos uma estrutura institucional que só na área de saúde conta com mais de 5.500 conselhos, que mobilizam mais de 100.000 participantes, além de um número considerável de associações. Parte dos autores que avaliaram o desempenho desses conselhos tem sugerido, no entanto, que a fragilidade da vida associativa e a própria resistência dos atores sociais e estatais em aceitar participar desses fóruns têm dificultado a efetiva participação da sociedade civil no processo de formulação e gestão das políticas sociais...
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Coelho, VSP
A volume edited by VSP Coelho & M Nobre
The concept of democracy has been widely accepted, however it is still poorly understood. This book addresses that pa...
The concept of democracy has been widely accepted, however it is still poorly understood. This book addresses that paradox. It provides insights to better understand the role of democratic institutions and to find a way to revitalise them. The book examines how the idea of deliberative democracy can provide mechanisms for citizen engagement; it also analyses the experiences of participatory budgeting, public councils, and other participatory mechanisms in Brazil. By doing so, it explores the nature of those innovative institutions and formulates new concepts useful to explain the role in participation and deliberation that these institutions must have within a democratic state.
This document is not currently available
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Coelho, VSP & A, Cornwall
IDS Bulletin, 35(2)
Across the world, as new democratic experiments meet with and transform older forms of governance,political space for...
Across the world, as new democratic experiments meet with and transform older forms of governance,political space for public engagement in governance appears to be widening. A renewed concern with rights, power and difference in debates about participation in development has focused greater attention on the institutions at the interface between publics, providers and policy makers. Some see in them exciting prospects for the practice of more vibrant and deliberative democracy.Others raise concerns about them as forms of co-option, and as absorbing, neutralising and deflecting social energy from other forms of political participation. The title of this Bulletin reflects some of their ambiguities as arenas that may be neither new nor democratic, but at the same time appear to hold promise for renewing and deepening democracy.
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Coelho, VSP, de Andrade, IA & MC, Montoya
IDS Bulletin 33(2)
This article describes Brazils approach to social policy in the light of the debates around the crisis of the Welfare...
This article describes Brazils 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.
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Coelho, VSP
Novos Estudos, 61: 93-108
O artigo analisa os processos de elaboração de projetos governamentais de reforma da previdência na Argentina, Urugua...
O artigo analisa os processos de elaboração de projetos governamentais de reforma da previdência na Argentina, Uruguai e Brasil nos anos 1990, considerando em cada país as condições da conjuntura econômica e do sistema previdenciário, bem como as características do Poder Executivo. O objetivo da análise é investigar se é possível, em face dos constrangimentos impostos pelas duas primeiras condições, estabelecer uma relação entre a natureza - incremental, mista ou radical - desses projetos e a distribuição de poder entre os diversos atores estatais.
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Coelho, VSP
In Novos Estudos 61
This article analyzes the formulation process of governmental reform projects for Social Security in Argentina, Urugu...
This article analyzes the formulation process of governmental reform projects for Social Security in Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil in the 1990's.The economic situation and the social security system, as well as the characteristics of the Executive branch of each country are described. The aim is to inquire, in face of the constraints posed by the mentioned conditions, about the possibility of establishing a connection between the nature of these projects - either incremental, mixed or radical - and the power sharing among the various state actors.
