Esfera pública e cidadania: a experiência do Orçamento Participativo de Porto Alegre

Resumo

This study examines the experience of the "Participatory Budget"
program promoted by the Municipal Government of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande
do Sul, Brazil, during the years 1989-95. It focuses on the possible
repercussions on Brazilian citizenship of a form of state management
characterized by the direct participation of the population in the allocation
of municipal investments. The analysis concludes positively that the
"Participatory Budget" in Porto Alegre — through the use of objective
impersonal, and universal criteria in the rules guiding participation and
resource distribution — institutes an operational dynamic of administration
that promotes the institutional conditions for citizenship.