MIGRATION-PARTICIPATION:CHALLENGES OF THE GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE IN BRAZIL AND IN THE EU

The increasing centrality of citizens in post-modernity is reflected in the complementarity of representative democracy with other models of participatory-deliberative-multicultural democracy, in which citizens acquire greater prominence and power regarding the definition of public policies. In Brazil, since the 1988 Constitution, a governance structure has been consolidated by combining Inter-managerial Commissions (structures of bi/tripartite negotiation and celebration of agreements for policy management) with policy councils (collegiate structures) and conferences (structures for social participation). Despite the adverse context, since the Maastricht Treaty of 1992, as a supranational federation, the European Union, by establishing a two-tier system of government, faces the challenge of creating arenas of political participation – building a supranational democracy while lacking a federal constitution – capable of simultaneously promoting territorial cohesion, enhancement of the interior, cross-border cooperation, and political-administrative decentralization. Both in Brazil and in the EU, an institutional structure of political participation has been built to attend, among others, to the demands of migrants and refugees. In this process, their participation in the dimensions of political concerted decision-making is a sine qua non condition for the democratic legitimacy of the country where they live.