The left on the local power: Porto Alegre and the Worker’s Party (PT)

Abstract

Which are the limits that a left-wing party finds when it’s managing a city inserted in a conjuncture where the dominant mode of production is the capitalism? From a Brazilian example, it examines the urban policies implemented by the Workers’ Party in the city of Porto Alegre (RS - Brazil), between the years of 1989 and 2004, period in which this Party governed the city in four successive administrations. Therefore, this text is looking for a general understanding on the implemented public policies in this Brazilian metropolis and its effect on the urban space and its population, not limiting to the traditional discussions on the Participatory Budgeting, widely debated when Porto Alegre and Workers’ Party are focused. This work presents the synthesis of some ideas developed in the PhD Thesis concluded by the author in 2004 at the UFSC (Federal University of Santa Catarina).