Public Hearings of the State Legislature: Endogenous and Exogenous Factors in the Analysis of the Effectiveness of Participation

Abstract

This research is a study about Annual Budget Law (Lei Orçamentaria Anual – LOA) of public hearings performed by Assembleia Legislativa do Espirito Santo from 2007 until 2014. The main purpose of this work is the effectiveness of public hearings participation, anchored in two dimensions: the deliberative moment and the hearings results. We assume that, despite the difficulty of measuring practical effects, Participatory Institutions such as the LOA public hearings, act in a way of intensifying democracy, especially in the allocation of resources according to the demands of civil society. In this perspective, this research analyzes public hearings components (legislators profile, institutional design, participants profile, Executive-Legislative relations and parliamentarian amendments) to evaluate the participation effectiveness. For this analysis, we used multi method approach combining three research tools: document analysis (LOA reports, laws and public hearings videos), survey (applied to the participants of the hearings of 2014) and semi structured interview (with Finance Committee parliamentarians). The analysis points to the low effectiveness of the audience as result of the combination of several factors, including low institutionalization, the profile of the participants, the Government influence in the process because of the relationship with the parliamentarians and using parliamentarian amendments as an electoral strategy. The study presents a methodological alternative to evaluate the effectiveness of participation from the interaction between the endogenous and exogenous factors, which includes the executive-legislative relationship. The approach made it possible to examine the effectiveness of the participation in two directions whether the effectiveness of the deliberation or of the results in the budget.

Keywords:
participatory institutions; public hearing; effectiveness; executive-legislative relations; electoral connection