Political Intermediation and Public Policy in Brazil: Councils and Conferences in the Policy Spheres of Health and Women’s Rights

Abstract

This chapter discusses a much-needed accurate understanding of the role of participation in policy making by focusing on three different dimensions of political intermediation carried out by participatory institutions in Brazil. It is argued that both policy sector trajectories of development and policy communities shape political intermediation by participatory institutions in policy making. By examining participation in health and women rights through councils and conferences—two of the most consolidated experiences of participatory democracy in Brazil—the chapter shows that the degree of sectoral institutionalization and consolidation of policy communities favour legitimacy, accountability and representativeness of the practices performed by intermediaries.