Municipal Council of Belo Horizonte Legislative Consultancy Division

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• Municipal Council of Belo HorizonteLegislative
  Consultancy Division
• School of the Legislative

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THE LEGISLATIVE POWER AND THE NEW FORMS OF
REGIONAL GOVERNANCE

• Patrícia Garcia Gonçalves
• Maurício Leite de Moura e Silva
• November 2008

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THE MUNICIPALITY AND THE CHALLENGE TO REGIONAL
GOVERNANCE

• 1973 institutionalization of the metropolitan
  regions
• First moment (1973 1988) centralization of
  regulation and financing of politics in the
  Union.
• Second moment (post-1988 Constitution)
  municipalism, aversion to centralization of
  decisions.
• Third moment (since the beginning of the 90s)
  partnerships between the metropolitan
  municipalities, supra-local arrangements.

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THE MUNICIPALITY AND THE CHALLENGE OF REGIONAL
GOVERNANCE

• End of 2004 alteration to the Constitution of
  the State (new institutional format Metropolitan
  Assembly, Deliberative Council of Metropolitan
  Development and Development Agency.
• Complementary Law nº 88/06 Gives framework
  for the institution and the governance of the
  metropolitan region and the Metropolitan
  Development fund
• Statute of the City demand for the elaboration
  of guiding plans by the municipalities members of
  metropolitan regions.
• Fourth moment legal alterations and a new
  institutional format, institutional and political
  difficulties.

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THE IDEA OF GOVERNANCE IN A TRANS-SCALAR
PERSPECTIVE

• The idea of governance refers to the form of
  the relationship between the State and civil
  society, that results in the capacity of
  implementation of policies (MENDONÇA, 2008).
• Dimensions of the concept of governance
  capacity of command of the State capacity of the
  State to coordinate and articulate the several
  areas of the government capacity to implement
  decisions promoting the involvement of civil
  society and administering the numerous interests
  in play.
• Metropolises the local scale proves to be
  insufficient for the planning and administration
  in virtue of the trans-scalar dimension of urban
  processes.

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INTER-INSTITUTIONAL COOPERATION AS A POSSIBILITY
FOR REGIONAL GOVERNANCE

• Governance participation of civil society,
  inter-sectoral articulation and
  inter-institutional relations.
• Inter-sectoral articulation rupture with the
  functionalist and fragmented planning.
• Inter-institutional relations cooperation
  between public and private institutions (network
  of relationships and partnerships).
• Governance
• legitimization strategy of proposals for
  governments and public policies
• or
• possibility for collective constructions that
  are able to translate, in a more effective way,
  the general interest.

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INTER-INSTITUTIONAL COOPERATION AS A POSSIBILITY
FOR REGIONAL GOVERNANCE

• Inter-institutional cooperation in the
  metropolitan regions
• sharing of experiences between municipalities
• perception of multi-dimensional and trans-scalar
  urban phenomena
• search for proposals and joint actions.
• Difficulties of inter-institutional cooperation
  (FARIA, ROCHA E FILGUEIRAS, 2008)
• legal aspects (restrictions to the utilization
  of financial and technical resources)
• organizational aspects (divergences, mistrust
  and bureaucracies)
• political aspects (idea of territorial
  protection cooperation x competition).

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THE LEGISLATIVE POWER AND THE CHALLENGES TO
DEMOCRATIC CONSTRUCTION

• Criticisms to political representation
• - social demobilization, political apathy
• - supremacy of representation of the private
  interests over the representation of the general
  or collective interest
• - persistence of oligarchic power
• - lack of transparency and social control.
• Reaction to such limitations emergence of
  institutionalized forms of more direct democracy.

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THE LEGISLATIVE POWER AND CHALLENGES TO
DEMOCRATIC CONSTRUCTION

• Emergence of more direct democratic forms
• - pedagogical role (exercise of citizenship,
  consciousness of rights)
• - possibility of the emergency of new social
  agents and new themes in the political arena
• - dislocation or pulverization of debate,
  typical function of the Legislative
• - new arrangements of power, redefinition of the
  Executive/Legislative relation (risk of
  increasing centralization of the decision-making
  power).

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THE LEGISLATIVE POWER AND CHALLENGES
TODEMOCRATIC CONSTRUCTION

• Context
• - crisis of the legitimization of political
  representation
• - crisis of the identity of political
  representation.
• Challenges that must be dealt with by the
  Legislative Power
• - search for articulation between the
  democratic practices
• - creation of new channels of communication with
  society and improving already existing ones
• - necessity to re-think itself and evaluate its
  role.
• The challenge is to transform democracy in an
  interactive game, playing in multiple arenas,
  that constitute the continuous decisive contexts
  (ANASTASIA, 2002).

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THE CASE OF THE METROPOLITAN FORUM OF MRBH

• MRBH in summary
• legal alterations
• urban interventions of metropolitan character
  and causers of significant environmental and
  urbanistic impact.
• Proposal of the Metropolitan Forum of the MRBH
  space for discussion in complementary action to
  the institutional spaces already existent. The
  idea is to promote a network of inter-municipal
  communication with the aim of creating a
  metropolitan consciousness, aggregate common
  interests and make available the experiences of
  the MRBH.

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THE CASE OF THE METROPOLITAN FORUM OF MRBH

• Focus
• public offices of common interest
• urban interventions and its interference in the
  diverse municipalities
• appropriate guiding municipal plans
• democratic governance.
• Objective elaboration of proposals and
  recommendations to be forwarded to institutional
  metropolitan bodies as subsidy for the formation
  of the Integrated Development Plan and for other
  planning and administrative actions.

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THE CASE OF THE METROPOLITAN FORUM OF MRBH

• Target audience
• public agents of the municipalities that compose
  the MRBH
• state bodies involved with the metropolitan
  issue
• technical bodies, for research and universities
• entities of the civil society
• citizens of the municipalities of the MRBH.

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THE CASE OF THE METROPOLITAN FORUM OF MRBH

• Proposed activities
• thematic meetings promotion for the debate
  about themes, seeking to identify conflicts and
  search joint solutions raising suggestions and
  recommendations to be addressed to competent
  bodies.
• virtual forum promotion of virtual debate,
  with the objective of addressing questions and
  suggestions for the event and to collect
  information about the event.
• metropolitan routes organization of
  expeditions, seeking to promote the experience of
  life, the experimentation and sensitization for
  the metropolitan issues.
• visits to public facilities and areas of
  metropolitan relevance programming of visits,
  with the objective of recognizing the problems
  and identifying possible solutions.

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THE CASE OF THE METROPOLITAN FORUM OF
MRBHEXECUTED EVENTS

• OPENING SEMINAR
• The Metropolitan question common problems,
  shared solutions
• Municipal Council of Belo Horizonte
• 31st August and 1st September 2007
• Elaboration and approval of a Metropolitan
  Charter resulting from the occurred debates
  principles to be observed by the Forum
• Formation of the Parliamentary Front composed by
  councillors of the several municipalities of the
  MRBH and the Metropolitan Collar.
• Preparation for the event course for the
  councillors, cabinet advisors and Municipal
  Council attendants of Belo Horizonte
  (sensitization and stimulation for participation).

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Opening Seminar - CMBH
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THE CASE OF THE METROPOLITAN FORUM OF
MRBHEXECUTED EVENTS

• I THEMATIC MEETING
• Collective transport system of MRBH proposals
  and challenges
• Itaguara
• 22nd August 2008
• Relevance of the theme
• proposal of the State in reference to the
  implementation of the new collective transport
  system in MRBH
• preoccupation with the issue of urban mobility.
• Objectives
• characterize the challenges and debate the
  alternatives for quality collective transport in
  MRBH
• make possible the knowledge and comprehension of
  the collective transport system proposed by the
  State
• reflect about the possibilities for the
  integration of the proposal of the State with the
  municipal systems and other forms of collective
  transport.

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I Thematic Meeting - Itaguara
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THE CASE OF THE METROPOLITAN FORUM OF
MRBHEXECUTED EVENTS

• II THEMATIC MEETING
• Environmental Sanitation in MRBH diagnosis and
  perspectives
• Santa Luzia
• 4th July 2008
• Objectives
• become familiar with the diagnosis of the
  environmental sanitation of MRBH
• reflect on the proposals and search for
  alternatives for the effectiveness of actions of
  sanitation directed towards urban drainage,
  provision of water, and the treatment of sewage
  in the MRBH, having in mind environmental issues
  inert to the theme
• appease the debate between the representatives
  of the municipalities of MRBH, with the objective
  of exchange of experiences and the promotion of
  inter-municipal cooperation in what is referred
  to as actions of sanitation.

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II Thematic Meeting Santa Luzia
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THE CASE OF THE METROPOLITAN FORUM OF MRBHNEXT
METROPOLITAN MEETING

• III THEMATIC MEETING
• Health System in MRBH family health
• Ribeirão das Neves
• 18th December 2008
• Objectives
• become familiar with the diagnosis of the health
  system of MRBH, with the focus on the Family
  Health Program - PSF
• reflect upon the problems and challenges of the
  theme and search for alternatives for the
  effectiveness of actions towards health, directed
  towards the Program in question
• appease the debate between the representatives
  of the municipalities of the MRBH and the
  Metropolitan Collar, the metropolitan and state
  entities, and the organized civil society
• ratify the Protocol of Intentions of Ribeirão
  das Neves with the aim of strengthening the
  articulation between participants of the Forum
  and the commitment with their signatories to
  continue to discuss the theme of health in MRBH,
  from the points of minutes to be defined.

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THE CASE OF THE METROPOLITAN FORUM OF MRBH

• Difficulties encountered and to be encountered
• legal, organizational and political impediments
  (inherent to inter-institutional cooperation)
• challenge to regional governance in the context
  of municipalism
• difficulties of mobilization of parliamentaries
  and the citizens to discuss issues the involve
  the collective or general interest
• administrative discontinuity
• lack of structure of the legislative houses to
  promote, with regularity and efficiency,
  large-scale events that require the mobilization
  of technical, political and financial resources
• difficulty to discuss urban problems
  sufficiently and thinking of medium- and
  long-term horizons, as is required in the
  regional discussion (idea of planning and
  governance)
• risk of restricting the events of the Forum to
  moments of limited exchange, not resulting in
  proposals and suggestions capable of interacting
  with governmental actions and programs.

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FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

• Metropolitan question challenge to the
  planning and governance (the institutional
  alternatives will be insufficient if there is no
  real commitment of the municipalities to search
  for agreements that lead to cooperation and
  solidarity).
• The municipal councils of the municipalities
  comprising the MRBH and the Legislative Assembly
  of Minas Gerais have a massive responsibility in
  the construction of this commitment in these
  agreements (idea of public sphere).
• The Metropolitan Forum of MRBH represents the
  possibility for a rise of new forms of regional
  governance, based on inter-institutional
  cooperation and participation in society.

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• Municipal Council of Belo Horizonte
• Legislative Consultancy Division
• Patrícia Garcia Gonçalves
• Maurício Leite de Moura e Silva
• divcol_at_cmbh.mg.gov.br
• Telephone [phone]
• Website for the Metropolitan Forum of MRBH link