The author analyses the participative institutions (participative budgets, local councils of politics and managing plans) emerged in the recent Brazilian democracy and he points to their differences due the distinct institutional designs. These institutions vary in the way as the participation is organized; in the way as the State is related to the participation and in the way the law imposes the government to adopt participative formula. The author shows this variation in different Brazilian cities (Porto Alegre, São Paulo, Belo Horizonte e Salvador) and the analysis shows that the participative budget is the more democratic but also the most vulnerable form that suffers the pressure of political society. The analysis also indicates the importance of the context variation for the effectiveness of the participation.
participative institutions; institutional design; Brazilian democracy; participative budget
