Trabalho, Educação e Saúde - TES (Work, Education and Health) is an open access scientific journal, edited by the Joaquim Venâncio Polytechnic School of Health, from Oswaldo Cruz Foundation.
This article sought to evaluate the deliberative effectiveness in a municipal health council, in order to produce information that contributes to the improvement of the deliberative democracy. This is a case study, with a qualitative approach, about the Municipal Health Council of Criciúma, Brazil. Data collection was performed in 2018 based on the following strategies: participant observation, 12 semi-structured interviews and document analysis. The organized and systematized data resulted in three thematic categories, namely: functioning; power relations between the State and Civil Society; and conflicting issues. As a result, it was found that the principles of equal participation, deliberative equality, freedom of thought, as well as plurality of composition, the topics discussed, the rules for defining the agenda and for the occupation of the presidency make this forum more democratic collegiate body. However, the principle of deliberative inclusion is undermined by issues related to the divergence of interests, especially personal and political interests to the detriment of collective interests, which is the biggest obstacle related to deliberative effectiveness. In this scenario, the importance of informing and raising awareness among councilors is evident, in order to expand the capacity for intervention in the ethical, political and knowledge fields in the field of democracy and health.
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