Marcas de uma democratização diluída: modernidade, desigualdade e participação na gestão de águas no Ceará

Abstract

This article analyzes the results of a survey of 626 members of participatory water committees in Brazil. Contrasting the survey data with other quantitative and ethnographic data collected in the Jaguaribe Valley, state of Ceará, between 2003 and 2010, this paper suggests that the participatory governance of water resources in Brazil is going through a legitimacy crisis. The average profile of committee members reveal the socioeconomic gap between these individuals and the larger civil society, which should find in the committees a legitimate venue for political representation in water related disputes. Additionally, the article discusses the effects of the modernization discourse on the participation process, showing how new social identities are ascribed to local political players, with some being cast as not proper for responsible water management. The symbolic implications of modernization end up disarticulating the potential for the participation to be a process of effective social inclusion.