In spite of being one of the most important institutional innovations
in the Brazilian politics, the profusion of municipal administration
councils doesn’t guarantee in itself an evolution in the Brazilian
democracy. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the profile of the
municipal councils of sustainable rural development and their counselors,
identifying possible differences between the civil society representatives
and the public power. For that were applied questionnaires containing
open and closed questions for 100 counselors of 12 of the 16 municipal
districts that form the Amazon Portal territory. The results indicate that
the counselors are formed by local elite, mainly in relation to political
culture, having big differences among the civil society representatives and
the public power. The dates could indicate an unequal correlation of forces
inside of these deliberation spaces. The results indicate although that
great part of the counselors still possesses an advisory profile and doesn’t
play an important aid in the formulation of municipals development
plans, having little participation of the population in the deliberations.
As conclusion, the research emphasizes the need to implement strategies
for larger involvement of the population and for the importance of the
counselors’ training for the participative process
