A great part of the literature considers the managing councils, that have become thousands, in Brazil, as deliberative arenas which objective is to expand the citizens' direct participation in public decisions. However, the organizational model of the managing councils do not correspond to the traditional concept of participative democracy for two reasons: first, because the participants supposedly represent organizations, not individuals, and, second, because besides nongovernment associations, members chosen by state organs also participate in those councils. This paper explores the implications of those two characteristics of the councils to the democratization of public decisions. It argues that the councils should be understood as potential spaces in the which several actors not only they deliberate, but they also change their practices. Their contribution for democracy happens when the dynamic interaction among several actors produces new relationships and resources to direct concrete problems, what called "fertile relationships."
representation; civil society; managing councils; civic participation; pluralism