PHA-Exchange> The Citizens of Porto Alegre

[Claudio]

From: Ruggiero, Mrs. Ana Lucia (WDC) 
 
Can The People Rule?

March/April 2006 issue of Boston Review

The Citizens of Porto Alegre
Available at: http://bostonreview.net/BR31.2/baiocchi.html 

 

"...It is not surprising that Brazilians are, by and large, uninvolved in civic life. Their cities are among the most violent, economically unequal, and problem-ridden in the world. While the elite live in fortified enclaves, one fourth of Brazilian city dwellers live in makeshift slum housing, often without access to any social services and dependent on patrons for survival.."

 

"..Looking at citizen attitudes and behaviors in isolation from the state institutions and the politics behind them reveals little about democratic possibilities. The story of participatory budgeting is useful beyond the template it offers for other cities in Brazil and throughout the world. It also raises questions about the way we discuss declining civic engagement in the United States. Perhaps we should be asking not only about television-watching habits and other social behaviors but about the nature of our national and local governments. We should be asking how transparent, responsive, and accessible they are to the citizen..."



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