Collective Mandates in Brazil: Democratic Innovations to Boost Participation in Legislature

Recently in Brazil, some politicians and organised groups have aimed to increase representation and legitimacy in legislatures via 'collective mandates', a democratic innovation (DI) that allows a group of citizens to collectively campaign and, if elected, share decision-making of a legisl...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Representation (McDougall Trust) 2024-01, Vol.60 (1), p.135-159
Main Authors: Secchi, Leonardo, Cavalheiro, Ricardo Alves, Baumgarten, Camila Vichroski
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Brazil
collective mandates
Decision making
deliberative democracy
democratic innovations
Elections
Group size
Innovations
Legitimacy
Qualitative research
Representative democracy
Social media
State legislatures
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Summary:Recently in Brazil, some politicians and organised groups have aimed to increase representation and legitimacy in legislatures via 'collective mandates', a democratic innovation (DI) that allows a group of citizens to collectively campaign and, if elected, share decision-making of a legislative seat. This article maps and analyses collective mandates implemented in Brazil from 1994 to 2022 to find their differences and similarities. This study identified 643 candidacies; 56 of them were elected for legislative mandates in city councils, state legislatures, and the National Congress. The qualitative analysis focused on six benchmark cases using the following analytical dimensions: initiative, group size, eligibility, moment of access, decision-making process, and interaction mechanism. The data sources were two nationwide reports on the theme (until 2020), raw data from the 2022 elections, and information available about the mandates on their websites, blogs, and social media. In conclusion, despite being generally labelled as 'collective mandates', the ongoing experiences have produced at least two subtypes: pure collective mandates and shared mandates. The common denominator holds the innovative concept: a legislator shares their power with a group of citizens, giving up parliamentary autonomy to foment democratic participation and accountability in the mandate.
ISSN:0034-4893
1749-4001
DOI:10.1080/00344893.2023.2192722