THE EXPERIENCE OF THE DEMOCRATIC BUDGET IN THE STATE OF PARAÍBA (2011-2014) - THE VOICE OF PARTICIPATORY RESISTANCE
Participative Democracy. State Democratic Budget Popular Participation.
It discusses the Democratic Budget (OD) of Paraíba and the insertion of the popular strata in the formulation of public policies, reflecting on the experience of this instrument of consolidation of participatory democracy, in this unit of the Brazilian federation. The objective of this research was to identify how Participatory Democracy is characterized in Paraíba, to analyze the practical experience of ODE-PB and to highlight the experiences of participants in the Democratic Budget in the process of social emancipation and struggle for citizenship. The theoretical methodological framework is based on the theoretical contributions of democracy, participatory democracy and participation, discussed by Santos (2002, 2010, 2013 and 2016), aiming to achieve a better understanding of how the political field has developed in the State of Paraíba, based on the experiences of the State Democratic Budget in the period 2011-2014. The methodological strategy of the empirical field was the documentary research, complemented by conversations / interviews with social subjects who participated in the process, previously chosen by their experiences, trying to answer the guiding questions of the investigation: Was there a strengthening of the negotiation spaces in the management of the Participatory budget in the State of Paraíba? Has there been a transformation of the dominant practices? Did the political insertion of excluded social subjects happen? Can we consider the implementation of the OD, in the State of Paraíba, a counter-hegemonic practice? The studies made it possible to understand that the ODE-PB has been able to break with the unique formula of liberal democracy that was in force in Paraíba until its creation, becoming a public space that initiates an approximation and promotes the articulation between representative democracy and participatory democracy. Finally, through the investigated case, it is perceived that it is an instrument of expansion of popular participation, a still incipient change in the political culture of Paraíba. It is the reinvention of democracy, through the counter-hegemonic bias of the State Democratic Budget.