Participatory institutions and repertoires of interaction: The National Councils of Health and Social Assistance in impeachment context

Abstract

In this article, we suggest to connect the participatory institutions and social movements’ literatures to understand the scenario of social participation in public policies councils in Brazil after the presidential impeachment of Dilma Rousseff in 2016. Specifically, we adopt and refine the concept of repertoires of interaction in order to analyze what are the reactions and/or resistances of the spaces and actors in relation to the changes in the political context and in the public policies, and what would explain the similarities and differences among the councils. The article is based on a qualitative and comparative research between two national councils, which have a high degree of institutionalization in Brazil: The Health National Councils and the Social Assistance National Council. It applies a content analysis of documents and semi structured interviews. The article shows that the councils have innovated and adopted distinct repertoires of interaction with the State, over three years, but they have presented different reactions depending on the variation in the dimensions that are key to the study of PIs, such as institutional design, the historical of socio[1]state interaction and the degree of public policy institutionalization.