A representação política nos conselhos de saúde : um estudo sobre processos de autorização, responsividade e accountability

Abstract

: The debate on political representation and participation in public administration has gained new contours with the introduction of new participatory mechanisms which demand attention from the social sciences. Thus, this study addresses the political representation from the experience of the public policy management councils, specifically in health, which have started new institutions and representation functions performed by civil organizations along with the traditional political representation. The aim is to understand to what extent this representation is democratic given the conditions in which it is exercised in the management councils. To this end, it takes as reference the authorization, accountability and responsiveness as key dimensions for representative practice, and aims to identify the selection procedures of the counselors (authorization), to analyze the understanding the representative of an institution has on his/her representation and to understand how communication is developed among these individuals, civil society and government about public policies-making. The analyzed data shows a discrepancy between the legislation and the counselors self-reference. This research suggests that this problem is more common in cities with fewer inhabitants, what it could have a correlation between the size of the city and the composition of the management councils. This observation still demands further research. The analysis also indicates the need for understanding to what we call the council representation imbroglio - who the representatives claim to represent, who indicated them to the practice of representation and who they de jure and de facto represent - and their relation to a responsive and accountable politics. As for responsiveness, the data demonstrates that counselors assign to themselves the responsibility to voice the demands and preferences of the represented segment, being the main functions of the counselors the activities related to social control, representation of interests and to the practice of policy making through deliberation. However, the councils and their representatives have fragile ties to the represented segments besides not having channels and mechanisms that give visibility to these demands.