Participação social e efetividade da deliberação em conselhos locais em Moçambique

Abstract

This research aimed to analyze the institutionalized participation and the effectiveness of the local councils regarding the deliberative quality, and the linkage to the governmental decisions and its action as oversight body of public policies. Specifically, based on the case study of the Bilene and Chibuto Districts Local Councils, an analysis was carried out that sought to verify if they constitute spaces of inclusion of the population; who participates; what is discussed and decided and effects on local governance. We sought to observe how social participation occurs and what is the effectiveness of deliberation of public policies in local councils? In the framework of the study we consider social participation approaches based on the presuppositions of the constitution of participatory institutions proposed by Fung (2004, 2015) and Avritzer (2008), combined with the contributions on representation made by Lüchmann (2007), Lavalle; Houtzager and Castello (2006), as well as in the proposals of the public deliberation approach presented by Bohman (2009), Cohen (2009) and Gutmann and Thompson (2008), associated with the conceptual bases of deliberative effectiveness proposed by Cunha (2007, 2009) and Faria (2010) and on the effects of deliberation on public policies presented by Michels and Binnema (2018). The methodological approach used is characterized as qualitative, based essentially on interviews with members of the councils covered and normative documents that guided the constitution and structuring of the local district councils, as well rules of procedure concerning their operation. In general, the study allowed to verify the occurrence of changes in the patterns of relations between the State and society at the district level of government in Mozambique regarding the sharing of decision-making power over public policies in the last decade, accompanied by dysfunctions that surrounding local councils. The results show a reduced potential for inclusion of social actors and the occurrence of inequalities in representation, as well as deliberation practices within these spaces dominated by the government representatives and unfavorable to segments of society actors that may compromise expectations of expanding influence policies and the democratization of public administration