A new architecture of participation: Implications of social movements on the conquest of rights and democratization of society

Abstract

In the last years, the debate on citizen participation has reached relevance in the analyses about the democratization of society and the role of civil society and social movements regarding the political impact on public management. The present paper aims to investigate how social movements have contributed to the strengthening of citizenship and the conquering of rights, starting from their insertion in spaces of participation in the local sphere. The analysis of this political process has as reference the debate about participatory democracy, active citizenship and the public sphere, which concepts have been highlighted and incorporated into the debate on social movements and in the architecture of social participation. Methodologically, the study has a qualitative character, made through documentary research and participant observation of actions developed by social movements in the municipality of Guarabira, in the state of Paraíba / Brazil. The research results showed a diversity of collective actions carried out by the social movements articulated by the Forum, which presented possibilities for the exercise of active citizenship, with participation in the management spaces of local public policies. The limits of this process were explained by the impermeability of local power to the democratization of decision-making spaces and the realization of the demands of popular organizations in the public budget.