Taking a seat on Brazil's health councils

Cornwall, Andrea; Shankland, Alex

Abstract

In Brazil, it is common to find citizens jammed together into municipal halls on neat, narrow rows of white plastic chairs, each a personal podium for the citizens cum policy-makers participating in the country’s vaunted experiments in participatory democracy. The most internationally recognised of these experiments has been in participatory budgeting, but just as significant in Brazil has been the advent of health councils, now found in nearly all of the country’s 5,000-plus municipalities. These councils are empowered by law to inspect public accounts and demand accountability, and some strongly influence how resources for health services are spent.

Citation

Cornwall, A., & Shankland, A. (2010). Taking a seat on Brazil's health councils. OpenDemocracy (London. Online),

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 6, 2010
• Deposit Date: Feb 6, 2012
• Publicly Available Date: May 28, 2020
• Electronic ISSN: 1476-5888
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Keywords: Civil society; Brazil; Participation
• Publisher URL: http://www.opendemocracy.net/andrea-cornwall-vera-schattan-p-coelho-alex-shankland/taking-seat-on-brazils-health-councils