Publisher's Synopsis
Starting from a plural approach, it sees public policies as an innovative object of investigation, enabling specific knowledge and, at the same time, demonstrating the importance of political practices, both in maintaining conservatism and in the process of rebuilding a new mentality. It emphasises the importance of councils, popular participation and social control in drawing up and implementing public policies. The problem for those who don't like politics is that it opens up space for a minority to appropriate it. The public resources administered by politicians don't come out of their pockets, but out of the taxpayer's pocket; the politician in power doesn't do favours, he does his duty, he must be the mediator of public policies. Public policies are emancipatory in that they promote quality of life, giving users dignity and autonomy. A new reality is possible if it is built from local power, with planning, good projects and, above all, political will. We need to participate and know in order to change, because only through a process of dialectical revitalisation and social interaction will we be able to transform our challenging reality.
