The governorships of Lula da Silva and deadlocks to participation in brazil

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to verify how the correlation of forces and the asymmetry of political resources impacted the process of implementing mechanisms for participation in Lula da Silva’s governorships (2003-2010). In order to do so, we carried out a case study focusing on two dimensions: a) correlation of political and economic forces - with the party opposition and business sectors and b) political resources - from institutional legacies, the political system, the agreements and the social support base. We concluded that despite the institutional deadlocks and the ideologically heterogeneous correlation of political forces, there have been advances in relation to political participation and access to social goods from sectors which were previously marginalized.