Brazil

Brazilian Mercosul Social and Participatory Council

City/State/Region
Begin – End: 2008 – ongoing
Name of organization in charge: Presidencia da República
Type of organization in charge: government
Level: national

Impact

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Implementation: was the innovation effectively, partially or not put into practice at all?

Fulfillment of Aims: were the goals of the innovation completely, partially or not achieved at all?

Output: has the innovation generated recommendations, initiatives, decisions or policies?

Outcome: if there were a policy output, was it enacted or implemented?

Implementation: yes
Fulfillment of Democratic Innovation’s aim: yes
Output: yes
Policy Outcome: unknown

The Brazilian Mercosul Social and Participatory Council meets four times a year before the meetings of the Common Market Group, to publicize the government's policies and initiatives related to the bloc, to foster discussions on issues related to integration and to send suggestions from civil society about the Social and Participatory Mercosur Program. The Mercosur Social and Participative Program consists in the accomplishment of a set of activities with the purpose of bringing Mercosur closer to the citizens. The Council's duties are: to disseminate the policies, priorities, proposals under negotiation and other initiatives of the Brazilian government related to Mercosur and South American integration; to foster discussions in the political, social, cultural, economic, financial and commercial fields involving aspects related to Mercosur and South American integration; to forward to the Common Market Council and to the Mercosur Common Market Group proposals and suggestions that will reach consensus in the discussions with civil society organizations.

Institutional design

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Formalization: is the innovation embedded in the constitution or legislation, in an administrative act, or not formalized at all?

Frequency: how often does the innovation take place: only once, sporadically, or is it permanent or regular?

Mode of Selection of Participants: is the innovation open to all participants, access is restricted to some kind of condition, or both methods apply?

Type of participants: those who participate are individual citizens, civil society organizations, private stakeholders or a combination of those?

Decisiveness: does the innovation takes binding, non-binding or no decision at all?

Co-governance: is there involvement of the government in the process or not?

Formalization: only backed by a governmental program or policy
Frequency: regular
Mode of selection of participants: restricted
Type of participants: civil society
Decisiveness: democratic innovation yields a non-binding decision
Co-Governance: yes

Means

Deliberation
Direct Voting
E-Participation
Citizen Representation

Ends

Accountability
Responsiveness
Rule of Law
Political Inclusion
Social Equality

Policy cycle

Agenda setting

Formulation and decision-making

Implementation

Policy Evaluation