political culture and the consolidation of democracy

The classic definition of democracy tells us that it is the government of the people and for the people. In view of the increase in social complexity, agregou-se a idéia do "para o povo", that is, representative democracy was founded in modern times. Historically there is a great gap between these two moments, the first in Ancient Greece and the second in modern society. Despite the great differences between them, why democracy returned to the scene? What are the values, objectives and interests that are involved in the contemporary adoption of democracy?

Keeping us in the social sciences, we can seek to increase the social division of labor and the amount of information available, duas importantes causas da retomada da democracia como "melhor sistema de governo existente". In other words, it was the emergence of mass society that demanded a more decentralized form of government (because dynamics) and representative (because plural).

Although these forces have pushed for democracy, in its representative version it suffered continuous interruptions in the places where it was implemented (with honorable exceptions, as we United States); giving way even to the most barbaric and unreasonable totalitarian movements that human beings have ever undertaken.

In the face of this confused picture, many conservative theorists focused their attention on the political institutions of the modern state to explain the preference for one or another system of government.. In the same period, teóricos progressistas ocuparam-se das "leis sociais" that caused democracy to be quickly replaced by another system, or even restored. Despite the enormous and significant advances they have made, few managed to understand democracy beyond its instrumentality of government. (what involves the channels and ways of governing, as well as the legitimacy of the policy).

N & HAND by the least, we constantly find references to the people in political speeches, to popular sovereignty, to the government facing the people… However, when we turn to the practices of these same speakers, all we see is a government facing an understanding of people, and not necessarily for what the people claim (this to stay in the government imbued with a public sense). Like this, a first problem that those who believe in democracy must face is that of bringing discursive understandings closer to reality..

Following the elitists' line, we could propose an improvement of political institutions (in this case, the focus is on the ways in which the governors are chosen). However, a more careful analysis can show us that this solution ignores the real problem of democracy., namely, the existence or non-existence (and the quality!) of democratic political culture.

A common criticism today, says the people don't know how to choose their rulers, who exchanges votes for personal favors and who is not imbued with an understanding of the public spirit. Anticipating more radical proposals that prefer to nullify popular participation¹, we must emphasize democratic values ​​and practices.. Participating in a democratic society is not living under a constitution and being able to vote at regular times; & Eacute;, greatly, behave in a dual social role: one private and one public.

In view of the purposes of this text, we will not stick to the private role of the citizen, but to the public. It is at this moment that the great challenge of implementing a real democracy begins.. It is precisely in the conception of public space that each of us has, that the seed of democracy will be planted. for our bad luck, thinking specifically about the Brazilian case, it seems that this soil is not one of the most fertile for democratic development². Thus, It is not enough for us to create the most perfect democratic institutions if we do not pay the necessary attention to the development of the democratic spirit..

This error is repeated since the implementation of democracy/republic in Brazil. So that we can better understand what is currently happening with Brazilian democracy, let's talk about some of the most important thinkers we've had since the implementation of the republic.. The highlight is the actuality of texts written over a century ago! Below we present fragments of texts on some of the main characteristics of Brazilian politics, they are illustrative and, if s & oacute;, capture the essence of these political deviations that mark us.

"Por falta de capacidade construtiva do povo, politically non-existent, statesmen little aware of the problems were led by education to look to foreign examples for ways to apply, the rules to follow without considering the peculiarities of the environment, of your typical conditions" (Gilberto Amado:  On the margins of the history of the republic, 1924).

"E não os poderíamos ter [real politicians], because the skills, like rare flowers, need to be cultivated. Cannot arise overnight, without prior soil preparation, of the terrain, where should bloom and shine. And our education system takes place, as I said, out of reality and, about everything, outside and above Brazil. Therefore, with, institutions, political and social world are also outside and above Brazil. Our work must be, keeping the republic, make it, before everything, Brazilian" (Gilberto Amado: On the margins of the history of the republic, 1924).

"É que já não há mais ninguém que acredite no verbo inflamado dos políticos. The common belief is that they all, bosses, underbosses, chefetes, electoral cables of all kinds, mayors, MEPs, senators and even ministers and governors, they are nothing but a string of ramblers. When it's not more complicated and dangerous people. And the truth is that when a political speaker talks to us about law, justice, economy, freedom, legality, patriotism, and how many other swear words that form the ordinarily debated theme with these, the impression you get is almost the same as you might experience listening to, for example, a prostitute making the apology of honor and modesty?…" (Farias Brito: the pamphlet, nº1, 1916).

"As leis devem prescrever estes meios [to end slavery], if they recognize that slaves are men made in the image of God. And if the laws consider them as objects of criminal legislation, why won't the civil protection also?" (José Bonifácio: the old and the young, 1920).

"O privilégio, in all its relations with society – such is, In summary, the social and political formula of our country –, privilege of religion, race privilege, privilege of wisdom, position privilege, this is, all the arbitrary and hateful distinctions that create in the bosom of civil and political society the monstrous superiority of one over all or some over many" (Republican Manifesto of 1870).

"Nunca ouve nos anais de nossa vida pública qualquer esforço sistemático para dar ao povo, to mass, political awareness. The privilege of having political conscience, active and militant, has always been zealously defended by ‘educated classes’. With the Republic, Suffrage became universal, that the restrictions of the imperial constitution were abolished. But, was all. The policy remained reserved for doctors, to graduates, in short, to the elements of the ‘cultured classes’. Political consciousness continued to be seen as a privilege and result of this culture. In consequence, as long as, No brazil, the people are called to participate directly and en masse in political life, he can only do so revolutionarily, or through collective states of civic exaltation, as in the Civilists Campaign and the Revolution of 1930, to name two typical modern cases; but, anyway, through intermittent outbursts of enthusiasm or collective strength" (Hermes Lima: Notes to Brazilian life, 1945).

"O que caracterizava a era democrática é, precisely, the work of connecting enter if, freely, men. It is no longer the reconnectinside (religion), or vague common beliefs (natural rights, opinions of doctors), is to call from the outside, without arresting the spirits, heading for inner movements, spontaneous, their. This requires ‘permanent transition’, but transition that constitutes a heap of science, of technique, effort savings, multiplying productivity, of everything that intelligence does dominating the forces" (Bridges of Miranda: Democracy, Freedom, Equality. The three paths, 1945).

"Há quinze anos que se nos descreve de todos os lados a lavoura como estando em crise, needing aid, dying, in close bankruptcy. The state is, every day, denounced for not borrowing and raising taxes to enable farmers to buy even more slaves. In 1875 a law, a de 6 from November, authorized the Government to give the national guarantee to the foreign bank – no other could imitate in Europe – to lend money to crops cheaper than the domestic money market. To have central sugar factories,and improve your product, the planters needed the nation to raise them under their responsibility" (Joaquim Nabuco: Or abolitionism, 1883).

This historical overview allows us to realize that the root causes of most Brazilian political problems are not exclusively linked to political institutions, since using thinkers from the imperial era to the post-Revolution of 1930, passing through the Old Republic, we highlight the continued and insistent presence of some of our bad uses of politics. Brazilian political institutions have undergone profound changes in the last century, experiencing a change not only functional, but above all in its nature. This institutional advance, more than compensating for possible oversights we had with Brazilian political culture, reinforces the need to set in motion the forces that act in society, that shape its functioning and its daily practices.

Following the line already pointed out by the thinkers highlighted in this text, and counting on a reasonable institutional maturity of Brazilian democracy, we must seek the development and sedimentation of communication channels between different social groups (organized civil society, mainly through supporting the organization and functioning of non-governmental organizations; class entities, race and gender; and mixed associations) and between these groups and the state (through instruments aimed at the active participation of citizens in the management of public affairs as, for example, the participatory budget).

For this, we must keep in mind that the State should not be the structurer of society, but the organizer. Before forging social relationships, he must regulate them as well as make available the compensatory limits, aimed at the balance of relations. This task is not easy and will not achieve the expected results if all responsibility is concentrated on one actor; each one must take upon himself the responsibilities that he has, in order to overcome the barrier of formal democracy, achieving real democracy.

__________________________

¹ Note that this position is also found and, perhaps, mainly in the mass itself, as a study carried out in 2000, through the Latinobarometer Corporation, according to which two out of every three young Brazilians aged 16 e 24 years are indifferent to democracy. In this same research, only 3% of respondents showed some interest in politics, being that 77% had no interest in the subject.

² For a more careful analysis of this point, see the work At home & the street by Roberto DaMatta.

magazine Author

Test – Democracy – October 2001