Análise sobre os moradores do centro de Santa Rosa quanto a transparência pública da administração municipal e participação cidadã

Abstract

The practice of public transparency has been strongly encouraged by governments in many different spheres. It is essential to have the participation of society (social control) in order to control public spending and investment. It is important citizens to be aware of how their representatives spend and invest public resources, how the priorities are set, and when public hearings take place which must guide the steps of Public Administration. Therefore, it is necessary to understand what the citizens in general think, expect and what their role within the public/political scenery is. The "participatory culture" needs to be rescued so that the citizens can help to decide where, how, when and how much to invest in the community in order that every sector (segments) has its basic needs of common usage supplied. And, moreover, they must be able to access information published in the media: to know when and where they are published. In this light, interviews were conducted with residents of downtown Santa Rosa – RS, who were asked how they perceive Public Transparency of the city and how they participate in the democratic actions. With the result of the sample, selected in a probabilistic way and estimated based on data from IGBE (2007) we can see how the population lacks information and knowledge about the acts and motivations in public agencies, even in people with higher levels of education. Particularly the downtown’s inhabitants were identified, also, another interesting characteristic: the political apathy.