Institutional political participation in historical perspective

Abstract

In the course traveled through the literature on institutional participation, it is possible to identify several different theoretical approaches. This article seeks to make a succinct bibliographical review, reflecting on the possibilities and the limits of these theoretical productions in Brazil, from the end of the decade of 1980 until the present day. The organization of this article results from this interpretative effort in four moments: the first, the contribution of Carlos Estevam Martins, in the 1990s, when dealing with participation within a theory of the State; the second, the problematization of some works that, inspired by the Habermasian theory, presented great enthusiasm with the institutional ways, as a form of empowerment and strengthening of the society; the third, the subsidies that research with an empirical bias made possible to highlight the mismatches between democratic expectations and the internal logic of the new participatory spaces; and finally, the reflection on some dilemmas and contributions of the debates about the effectiveness of participatory institutions.