Challenges of citizen participation: on the institutional profile of Brazilian municipal councils

LOCKS, Pompilio; GIOVANINI, Adilson

doi:10.1590/2236-9996.2025-6368081-pt

home Sumário navigate_before Anterior Atual Seguinte navigate_next

home Sumário

Original Article • Cad. Metropole 27 (63) • May-Aug 2025 • https://doi.org/10.1590/2236-9996.2025-6368081-en linkcopy

Challenges of citizen participation: on the institutional profile of Brazilian municipal councils

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstract

The objective of this work is to understand the changes and continuities in the institutional profile of municipal councils in Brazil and analyze factors that have influenced these processes. We analyzed the IBGE/Munic databases and constructed the Municipal Councils Institutional Profile Indicator (IPICM), adapted from the work by Almeida et al. (2021). Based on descriptive and inferential statistics, we observed the strengthening of the councils’ institutional profile, related, on the one hand, to a process of moderate convergence of participatory institutions in the municipalities and, on the other hand, to a process influenced by variables such as the Municipal Human Development Index and the Gini Index, population, mayors’ political ideology, and the number of Civil Society Organizations. Despite this progress, we perceive that the distribution of these institutions still reproduces patterns of territorial inequality between Brazilian municipalities.

Keywords
institutional profile; municipal councils; inequalities; municipalities; participation

	Variable	Description	Source	Year	Type of variable
1	North	Binary variable for the North region, compared to the Southeast	IBGE	2009	Geographic
2	Northeast	Binary variable for the Northeast region, compared to the Southeast	IBGE	2009	–
3	South	Binary variable for the South region, compared to the Southeast	IBGE	2009	–
4	Central-West	Binary variable for the Central West region, compared to the Southeast	IBGE	2009	–
5	IPICM ₂₀₀₉	Indicator of the Institutional Profile of Municipal Councils	IBGE	2009	Temporal
6	HDI-M	Municipal Human Development Index	Firjan	2009	–
7	CSOS	Civil Society Organizations per thousand inhabitants	FASFIL/IGE	2010	–
8	Pop	Estimated municipal population, in logarithm	DataSUS	2009	–
9	Gini	Gini Index	DataSUS	2010	–
10	Ideology_2012	A continuous variable that assumes the value of six for far-right mayors and the value of zero for far-left mayors*	TSE	2012	Political
11	Ideology_2016	A continuous variable that assumes the value of six for far-right mayors and the value of zero for far-left mayors*	TSE	2016	–

Type of council	Period 1 2009	Period 2 2019-2021	Relative and absolute growth (periods 1 and 3)	Typology*
Health	5.417	5.526	2% (109)	C1
Children Adolescents	5.084	5.489	8% (405)	C1
Education	4.403	5.287	20% (884)	C1
Environment	3.135	4.375	40% (1240)	C2
Housing	2.373	3.018	27% (645)	C2
Older people’s rights	1.974	4.030	104% (2056)	C2
Culture	1.372	2.804	104% (1432)	C2
Sports	623	1.458	134% (835)	C2
Public Safety	579	828	43% (249)	C3
Rights of Persons with Disabilities	490	1.389	183% (899)	C3
Transport	328	551	68% (223)	C3
Racial Equality	148	365	147% (217)	C3
Human rights	79	91	15% (12)	C3
LGBTT	4	49	1.125% (45)	C3
Total	26.009	35.260	35% (9.251)

		Number of Councils 2009	Number of Councils 2019-2021	Parity--based 2009	Parity--based 2019-2021	Deliberative nature 2009	Deliberative nature 2019-2021
Average		4.6	6.3	4.2	5.6	3.8	5.1
Median		4	6	4	5	4	5
Standard Error		1.95	1.90	1.85	1.88	1.89	1.80
Coef. Range		42	30	44	33	47	35
Percentage	25	3	5	3	4	3	4
Percentage	75	6	7	5	7	5	6

Região		IPICM_2009	IPICM_2019-2021
North	Average	0.25	0.34
	Standard Error	0.11	0.11
	Median	0.26	0.36
	Coef_Range	44	32
Northeast	Average	0.26	0.36
	Standard Error	0.11	0.11
	Median	0.23	0.35
	Coef_Range	42	30
Southeast	Average	0.34	0.44
	Standard Error	0.12	0.12
	Median	0.33	0.42
	Coef_Range	35	27
South	Average	0.33	0.45
	Standard Error	0.12	0.11
	Median	0.33	0.42
	Coef_Range	36	24
Central-West	Average	0.32	0.39
	Standard Error	0.12	0.12
	Median	0.30	0.38
	Coef_Range	37	31

	IPICM_2009	IPICM_2019-2021
1 – Up to 5.000	0,26	0,36
2 – 5.001 to 10.000	0,27	0,36
3 – 10.001 to 20.000	0,28	0,38
4 – 20.001 to 50.000	0,32	0,43
5 – 50.001 to 100.000	0,40	0,52
6 – 100.001 to 500.000	0,49	0,61
7 – More than 500.000	0,59	0,69
Total	0,30	0,40

Variable	MQO1	MQO2	MQO3	MQO4	VIF
IPICM_2009	-0.314*	-0.416*	-0.421*	-0.547*	3.04
IDH-M	–	0.376*	0.356*	0.172*	2.82
Gini	–	0.107*	0.142*	-0.033*	1.72
OSCs	–	0.000	-0.004*	0.005*	1.68
Right_2012	–	-0.005*	-0.005*	-0.004	1.63
Right_2016	–	-0.001	0.000	0.000	1.62
North	–	–	-0.018*	-0.031*	1.42
Northeast	–	–	-0.007*	-0.032*	1.22
South	–	–	0.002	0.013*	1.11
Central-West	–	–	-0.03*	-0.022*	1.03
Populations	–	–	–	0.034*	1.03
Cons	0.194	-0.073*	-0.071*	-0.136*	–
R-Squared	0.221	0.286	0.295	0.415	–
Breusch-Pagan	11.41	0.81	0.08	3.35	–

		IPICM_2009	IPICM_2019
Average		0.30	0.40
Median		0.28	0.40
Standard Error		0.12	0.12
Coef. Range		40	30
Percentage	25	0.21	0.33
Percentage	75	0.38	0.47

vertical_align_top show_chart

more_horiz close
- image
- translate
- link
- article
- vertical_align_top
- file_download
- show_chart
- image
- translate
- link
- article

location_on

Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo Rua Ministro de Godói, 969 - 4° andar - sala 4E20 - Perdizes, 05015-001 - São Paulo - SP - Brasil , Telefone: (55-11) 94148.9100 - São Paulo - SP - Brazil
E-mail: cadernosmetropole@outlook.com

rss_feed Acompanhe os números deste periódico no seu leitor de RSS

[TFN3001] *Ideological classification carried out according to Bolognesi et al. (2023).

[2] Source: elaborated by the authors.