Country overview Brazil

The inclusion of social participation concerns in public policies in Brazil reflects a contemporary approach to democracy, according to which modern citizens should be able to contribute to the creation of laws and policies, as well as contribute with states in their implementation. This report aims to provide an overview of the normative and institutional state of art of ICT-mediated citizen participation in Brazil. The first section provides an overview of the political and civic liberties framework in Brazil. In the second section the landscape of ICT-mediated citizen engagement is mapped. In the third section, the report engages with implications of technology mediations for deliberative democracy and transformative citizenship. The study argues that the discussion around participation (and e-participation) has dimmed in the last few years in Brazil. It could be a consequence of the current crises in the democratic system that we face today, the diminishing presence of social movements as effective members of government and the lack of proper institutionalisation of forms of online participation. The study also states that existing literature on participation and ICT-mediated engagement in Brazil seems to point out that increasing participation will be a complex process involving not only political and cultural change, but the understanding that technology decisions are increasingly political decisions. Access to the Internet and its use and appropriation policies will be ever more connected to democracy.