| Popis: |
This article discusses the potentialities and limitations of social observatories that focus on citizenship audit in promoting social control and accountability, starting with the experience of the Itajaí Social Observatory (Observatório Social de Itajaí: OSI). The OSI is part of the Brazilian Social Observatory (Observatório Social do Brasil), network which brings together approximately 50 organizations. The study describes Brazil’s recent boom in social observatories that focus on citizenship audit; analyses these observatories as instruments of social control and potential activators of other accountability mechanisms; discusses the relationship between their methods and their political practices; and identifies limitations in their activities. The research took place between 2009 and 2010, based on conceptual frameworks of accountability in public administration, document analysis, in-depth interviews and direct observation. It concludes that social observatories potentially connect government and society, coordinate technical with political action and contribute to the quality of public administration. Although facing challenges, such as that of the continuous production of technically and methodologically credible information and of involving diverse sectors of society, they reflect the potential for society’s engagement in social control, amid the maturing of political culture and the incorporation of the concept of accountability into the Brazilian institutional framework. |
