The meanings of participation for the workers' party (1980-2016)

Abstract

At the 1982 election, the Workers' Party (PT - Partido dos Trabalhadores) re-leased the motto: "to govern with popu-lar participation and inversion of priori-ties". These ideas would accompany the party throughout its history, although with substantial changes in the way they were perceived by its militants and lead-ers. These changes were made explicit by the priorities given to different pub-lic policy instruments, ranging from the proposal to govern by Popular Councils in the 1980s to the constitution of a Na-tional System of Participation in the fed-eral government in 2014. We argue that there is a relational dynamic, in which the adoption of different public policy instruments for the implementation of the participation guidelines simultaneously shapes and reflects party ideological preferences. Based on the experimental-ism of its municipal, state, and federal administrations, successful experiences were incorporated into the party program as examples to be followed by other PT governments. From the systematic analysis of party resolutions and pub-lications, we present how the meanings attributed to the term participation and its various adjectives gradually change, together with the choice of priority in-struments for the implementation of par-ticipatory policies.