Participatory institutions in Brazil, their challenges and the “export” of models abroad

Analyzing the participatory budget in Tokyo (Japan)

Abstract

The objective of this paper was to expose the recent paradigm of demobilization of Participatory Institutions (PIs) in Brazil, while at the same time analyzing how the Participatory Budget (PB), an important Brazilian PI, had its model “exported” to an Asian country: Japan. The PIs, institutionalized mechanisms that promote social participation, have a unique potential for strengthening democracy, as proposed by several of the authors listed in the references of this work. Through bibliographical and documentary research, based mainly on the author's monographic case study, it became clear that the active effort against the PIs represents a conscious undertaking to weaken democracy. On the other hand, the international dissemination of PB shows, as will be exposed, the perennial importance of this participatory experiment created in Brazil, setting up a scenario in which the referred country appears as a “laboratory” for developing participatory experiments adopted internationally.