Participação social no legislativo : um estudo sobre as audiências públicas na Assembleia Legislativa do Mato Grosso (2015-2018)

Abstract

The 1988 Federal Constitution boosted the evolution of a series of models of participatory institutions, public spaces for dialogue and decision-making between the State and society. Since then, the concern to understand the functioning and effectiveness of these institutions has become the object of interest of several researchers. Even so, unlike other types of participatory institutions, the public hearing is a phenomenon little investigated in the literature. In this context, the present research aims to analyze the public hearings held by the Legislative Assembly of the State of Mato Grosso (AL-MT), between the years 2015 to 2018, seeking to verify whether these spaces favor the participation of society in the debate process public promoted there. In the light of the literature on participatory institutions, the research starts from the hypothesis that the institutional design and the implementation of the analyzed public hearings can increase or reduce social participation in these spaces. With a quantitative and qualitative approach, and with an exploratory objective, the research was developed using a documentary procedure, through a survey and analysis of the minutes of the public hearings, with shorthand records, in addition to the relevant legislation (Constitution, internal regulations) and other public data available on the AL-MT website or made available via the Access to Information Law. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and content analysis techniques, with the technological support of Excel software and, to a lesser extent, Iramuteq. The literature review complemented the study. For the analysis of the minutes, it was necessary to select a non-probabilistic sample, with the option of investigating public hearings that debated topics of interest to vulnerable groups. The research results indicate that the institutional design that prevails in the analyzed public hearings seems to result in a limited, segmented social participation, tutored by state actors, characterized by an action by representation of organized interests and governed by parochial interests. It is expected that the research results can contribute to the understanding and improvement of the social relations and public space analyzed.