After the establishment of the Federal Constitution of 1988 the councils on social areas were evidenced as enabling instruments in the process of decentralization of social policies at the local level, opening opportunities for the political participation and standing out in relation to the traditional modalities in force until then. The aim of this work was to identify the composition of Bertioga Sector Councils, their form of action and analyze the participation of the civil society, using the case study methodology in the qualitative line. The results showed that even though the time frame from their foundation up to the present is short to show concrete results, the achievements and the obstacles, in practice, point out a fragility, indicating the need of training on the part of their members as well as the creation of mechanisms to integrate them, based on collective action, if they are to have any influence over the political system.
Municipal Councils; Formal Controls; Social participation