Social Control in Brazil – State-Centered or Society-Centered? Evidences from the 1st National Conference on Transparency and Social Control, Consocial

Abstract

Abstract: The process and the proposals considered as priorities during the 1st National Conference on Transparency and Social Control (Consocial), are hereanalyzed, based on two patterns – State-centric and socio-centric – of the relationship between State and Society (Keinert, 2000). The Conference, led by theOffice of the Comptroller General (agency of the Brazilian federal government) during 2011 and 2012, involved thousands of people, in different meetings,reaching a set of 80 proposals (combined in 42) for a coming National Plan on Transparency and Social Control. The Conference is part of an ongoing processof democratic maturation in Brazil, which includes the opening of State institutional forums for citizens’ participation, increasing direct participation indecision-making and control over public administration, as well as in building new institutional and governance arrangements (typically found in societiesadopting the socio-centric pattern). However, characteristics of the State-centric pattern, such as centralization, formalism, and the notion of “public” asrestricted to State, are still reinforced. Overall, it is possible to observe a variety of combinations between these two patterns. The study is based on the methodof participant-observation during six phases of Consocial, analyses of the communication of the conference and documents such as the proposals andConsocial’s final report.Key-Words: Social control, State-Society relationship, Consocial.