Title: Can Public Deliberation Democratise State Action?: Municipal Health Councils and Local Democracy in Brazil
Abstract: Within the debate about decentralisation, democratisation, and the role of civil society in bringing about effective democratic government, participation has been widely advocated as a way of making governments more accountable and public services more responsive to user needs and preferences. Moreover, in recent years public deliberation has been proposed as an instrument of strengthening democracy. Calls for such arrangements are largely based on normative arguments or assumptions. Local governments would be willing, or can be compelled, to share a part of their power with civil society actors; these are assumed to be separate and autonomous from the state, yet engaged in public affairs and willing and capable of exerting 'social control' over state action. Deliberative arrangements are supposed to allow for decision-making by force of the better argument rather than power politics, providing appropriate channels for deepening or consolidating democracy from the bottom up. However, there is limited empirical evidence on the determinants and outcomes of deliberative participation. Therefore I turn these assumptions into questions.
Publication Year: 2005
Publication Date: 2005-01-01
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 22
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