Militants and Citizens The Politics of Participatory Democracy in Porto Alegre

"This is far and away the best work on governance in Porto Alegre, the paradigmatic case for contemporary democratic participation. It will be read and reread by researchers and activists alike." - Peter Evans, University of California (Berkeley) "Finally, after all the hype, we have a real account of the Porto Alegre experiment in participatory democracy, how the subaltern can indeed speak and be heard, how a public sphere can give a political space to the poor and illiterate and not just the privileged and educated, how popular control of municipal budgets engenders a vibrant civil society and a responsive government that advances material welfare. Militants and Citizens puts political theory to work in an ethnographic tour de force. This is essential reading for a depressed American public that can no longer remember the meaning of democracy." - Michael Burawoy (University of California, Berkeley)