| Reviews / Comptes Rendus | Labour/Le Travail, 58

Reviews / Comptes Rendus

Marion Gret and Yves Sintomer, The Porto Alegre Experiment: Learning Lessons for Better Democracy (London: Zed Books and Toronto: Fernwood 2005)

AT THE OUTSET of the decade Porto Alegre, Brazil, became a symbol of hope for many on the left, first as the initial home of the World Social Forum [WSF], second for its experiences in direct democracy and municipal participatory budgeting [PB]. Both represent attempts to create new public spaces and re-animate democracy. While the WSF has received the most attention, PB has inspired considerable interest on its own if the more than 150,000 hits found online on the subject is any indication.

One of the better academic discussions on PB is this contribution by Gret and Sintomer originally published in French in 2002 as Porto Alegre: L'espoir d'une autre démocratie, a title that better captures the flavour of the book. This is a comparatively slim but thoughtful work that raises many critical questions about participatory democracy stemming from PB. Among them: Are participatory democracy and social justice incompatible? (No) Are participatory democracy and good government incompatible? (No) Is there hope for a radically democratizing democracy? (Yes)

This book, however, is not a paean to Port Alegre's experience in PB, but rather a probing examination of its origins, structures, process, and challenges. The book is divided into four primary chapters each of which addresses key facets of the Porto Alegre experiment. The first chapter, for example, addresses the creation of PB in Porto Alegre in 1988, a city of 1.4 million in southern Brazil and a longtime stronghold of the Worker's Party [PT]. Critical to the emergence of PB was a revitalization of the democratic left in Brazil's transition to democracy after nearly two decades of military dictatorship which began in 1964. Particularly relevant was the creation of the PT with its bases of support in the trade-union movement, liberation theology Christianity, and extreme-left currents. The PT took to heart the shortcomings of bureaucratic socialism in Europe, rejecting authoritarian, technocratic hierarchy in favour of a more radically democratic identity. The road to power for the PT began at the local level where, riding a wave of urban democracy in 1988, the PT won control of more than 30 cities including Porto Alegre.

Soon after taking power in 1988 the PT began an innovative experiment in radical social democracy through the introduction of PB, an open and democratic process whereby citizens can meet, deliberate, and make democratic decisions about city expenditures. PB is not, however, an exercise in budgetary self-management by citizens but rather an exercise in joint governance by representative municipal bodies and citizens who assume direct decision- making power by means of what is described as the participatory pyramid.

How the PB works is at the heart of the second chapter. For many citizens the key to PB is the participatory pyramid, a complex structure functioning at three levels within an integrated system. The participatory pyramid is the connecting link between the city executive consisting of the mayor and city administration with civil society. The participatory pyramid is organized on both a territorial basis (composed of the sixteen districts of the city) and a thematic basis around city-wide issues, five to six in all.

The foundation of the participatory pyramid is the micro or local level which draws small groups of people from area neighbourhoods. Here citizens establish local priorities, most often, but not exclusively, infrastructure, for example, paved streets, sewers, and water lines. They also select speakers who will take their cause to the plenary assemblies at the district level which compare priorities from the micro level, make recommendations for district priorities, and select delegates who take these priorities to the third or Participatory Budget Level [COP]. COP, in turn, works closely with the mayor's office, city administration, and civil society associations and makes a recommendation on overall budgetary priorities which are discussed and approved by the municipal assembly. The final recommendation is determined within three critical parameters: 1) a logic of democracy based on turnout at lower level meetings; 2) a logic of re-distribution to recognize needs of the least inhabited and poorer areas of the city; and 3) a technical logic which incorporates technical feasibility criteria of the city administration used to assess the viability of certain proposals. The third logic has been hotly contested and measures have been taken to ensure the city administration does not exercise de facto control over the process. All said, this is a very demanding and complex process which takes place in four phases over a year and which required a re-organization of the city administration to accommodate the participatory pyramid.

The next question the authors address in their third chapter is crucial: does PB work? Is it effective? Here two sets of measures, internal and external, can be used. Internally, the authors tick off a list of successes — greatly improved infrastructure in poor areas, the best public transportation in Brazil, a tripling of daycare centres, a tripling of children attending school, much greater investment in the health care sector, significant improvements in municipal governance including greater transparency, accountability, efficiency, reduction of corruption, and the elimination of patron-client relationships in budgeting. In terms of social justice, the PB has been particularly successful. The working class has become a prominent collective actor benefiting significantly in terms of redistribution. Women are also included in greater numbers than ever before. Finally, in terms of citizen involvement, the PB has become a school of democracy.

Externally, one can point to the spread of the PB process to more than 100 cities in Brazil, to other cities in Latin America and Europe with growing curiosity in Canada. The United Nations has praised PB and has designated Porto Alegre as the Brazilian city with the best quality of life. The improvements in city governance have attracted the attention of the World Bank which has warmly endorsed PB as a model for the Global South, extended low-cost loans to the city, and posted extensive information on PB on its website.

While the authors suspect the ulterior motives of the World Bank, they do not sufficiently grasp the implications for Porto Alegre and PB to be embraced by the bank. This has become a sensitive issue in Brazil including an attack by João Penha, a member of the PT's left wing, on the "Trap of the Participatory Budget" in which he asks "why has the World Bank characterized the PT city led government of Porto Alegre as the 'best pupil' of the World Bank and IMF?" The PB, according to Penha, is little more than an instrument of the World Bank through which the poor manage their own oppression. Penha's criticism serves as a reminder to the left on how its experiments in democracy can be potentially co-opted by capitalist interests but the criticism does not do justice to the theory and practice of PB. Gret and Sintomer, in fact, depict a very different reality. For example, under PB Porto Alegre was able to extricate itself from a severe financial crisis and raise local taxes in a progressive manner from 85 million reis (about half that in US dollars) in 1988 to 246 million reis in 1999, much of it in the service of social justice. (54)

To be fair to the authors they recognize in chapters 3 and 4 that PB faces many challenges and has shortcomings. For example, while women are very much a part of PB, feminist issues per se, are not. Immigrant groups are also marginalized. The system is very complex and citizen knowledge of it is shaky. It also demands considerable time of participants bringing to mind the quip of Oscar Wilde that "the problem with socialism is that it takes up too many evenings." Indeed, one might ask the readers of this review if they would give up two nights a week for a year as unpaid citizen delegates on COP. Probably not. One must also ask might such experiments burn themselves out on their own accord if more leisure time is not found for citizens, particularly the poor, faced with the daunting challenge of simply making a living. PB is indeed a fragile system. Legally, it has no standing in Porto Alegre's municipal law and could be "eliminated if the mayor so decided." (27)

The final chapter raises critical questions about PB that will certainly interest readers. For example, how can the dangers of institutionalization be overcome? Can PB move to higher scales of government? How universal and transferable is it?

While it is not a shortcoming of the authors it is unfortunate that the book does not take us up to date through Lula and the PT's first two years in power. For many on the left Lula has been a disappointment, kowtowing to the institutions of global capitalism. In this regard, the alignment of Raul Pont, the PT's mayoral candidate in the fall 2004 municipal elections in Porto Alegre, with the national party line was no doubt a contributing factor in his defeat. Elsewhere, Brazil's remaining PT administrations are moving to the right. Does this mean the end of PB? This is not certain. What is certain is that this experiment, even if short-lived, is a remarkable accomplishment for the left. Even if the Brazilian left has to start all over again, it will have an inspiring legacy to build upon. For those who want to learn more about the Porto Alegre Experiment, short-lived or not, this book comes highly recommended.


Peter J. Smith Athabasca University

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