Democracia, participação e deliberação: o caso do Conselho Municipal de Saúde de São Félix na Bahia

Abstract

The management councils of public politics are spaces of social participation where there is the possibility of its joint actuation with the State. Its existence Is very important to strengthen democracy, especially because of features come from the democratization period in Brazil with an emphasis in deliberation. However the literature indicates to some limiting points that have not yet been overcome so that the councils fulfill its democratizing potential. This research analyzed how democracy, participation and deliberation articulate themselves and how they manifest in the City Council of Health in the municipality of Sao Felix in Bahia. Therefore a case study with a qualitative approach was made. The analysis came from the data collected in documents, observations and applied interviews to the members of the mentioned council. By the end of the research a favorable institutional frame was identified what did not prevent the existence of fragilities in deliberation, superficiality in fulfilling the parity, doubts about the deliberative effectiveness and association with a kind of formal democracy. The relevance of this study lays on particularity of the empiric field: contradicting the tendency the study was made in a small town in the countryside of a state in northern Brazil.