Participatory Democracy versus Elitist Democracy
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Palgrave/St. Martin’s Press has published my book, Participatory Democracy vs. Elitist Democracy: Lessons from Brazil (2003). The book is the culmination and summation of research I’ve been conducting in Brazil and here at Stetson University since about 1994. Some recent alumni may even remember having read drafts of some of the book’s chapters in their classes with me. At several points in the text, I thank some of my former students for helpful comments and bibliographical references.
Here’s a brief sketch of what the book is about. I begin by discussing North Americans’ love-hate relationship with politics and politicians. Then I comment how Brazilians feel the same way, as do many citizens of democracies throughout the world. I argue that this is so because contemporary democracies have increasingly trickled up and away from so-called ‘average citizens’. We now live in a world of “Elitist Democracies” essentially constructed of, by and for moneyed, well-connected and ethically-challenged elites. Fortunately, there are alternatives, and that’s where Brazil offers valuable lessons. Experiments in local-level participatory democracy, put into practice in Brazil by the Workers Party – South America’s largest left-wing party – demonstrate how ‘Bringing the People Back In’ helps revitalize democratic politics. I examine and critically analyze the Workers Party’s experiment in “participatory budgeting”, showing both the promise and the practical limitations of efforts to promote “popular participation” and citizen empowerment. The conclusion distills the most important lessons from the Brazilian case study for those interested in reclaiming democracy ‘of the people, for the people and by the people’.
My book speaks across the sub-disciplines of Comparative Politics and American Politics, allowing those interested in American politics to learn from innovative experiments in local-level institutional design that they might not otherwise see as relevant. At the same time, specialists in Latin American politics and in the politics of the Developing World will be equally rewarded by the case study. My writing style is clear and straightforward, yet grounded in strong empirical analysis and a solid framework of democratic theory. The conclusion is unique in that it is steers an empirically derived argument somewhere between the standard extremes of ‘radical’ (and impractical) participatory democracy, on the one hand, and ‘conservative’ (and elitist) representative democracy, on the other.
Finally, I have to say that this book could not be coming out at a better time. First, given the current context in the United States of secretive government with a frankly anti-civil liberties/rights agenda, there are many people both on and off college campuses who are intensely interested in ‘threats to democracy’ and to innovative participatory designs that purport to challenge such threats. Second, the Workers’ Party is now the ruling party in Brazil. Brazil’s current President, Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva (who I interviewed in 1997), was elected in October 2002 and inaugurated into office in January of 2003. This marks the first time that a Leftist and working class candidate has ever been elected to the Presidency in Brazil.
- Wm. Nylen |
