Marie Michael Library

Who participates? Civil society and the new democratic politics in Sao Paulo, Brazil

Houtzager, Peter; Lavalle, Adrian Gurza; Acharya, Arnab

This paper explores the participation of civil society actors in institutional spaces for direct citizen participation in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The paper identifies factors that influence the ability of civil society actors to participate in the participatory budget, policy councils, and other programmes. The findings support the idea that the institutional design of participatory policy-making spaces has an impact on who participates.