This article deals with the experience of the Neighborhood Management Committees, participative management channels that were introduced in the Fluminense Coastal Plain area [close to Rio de Janeiro] by the Rio de Janeiro State Government, with the idea of guaranteeing that local residents participate in any discussions relative to the implementation of the New Coastal Plain Program. In order to check the potential and the obstacles encountered by these channels when it came to participating in local political decisions and to see if they worked effectively as instruments of democratic inclusion data was used that was taken from field research carried out by the State University of Rio de Janeiro in 2005, which interviewed local residents from the areas that benefited from the program, members of committees and program managers. The results revealed the existence of the creation of a hierarchy in the decision-making process and reduced participation by the majority of the population in deliberations, which restricted the functioning of the committees as participative forums.
Democracy; popular participation; civism; New Coastal Plain Program; neighborhood management committees
