The citizen participation in the Doce River water resources planning an analysis of the Terms of Reference

From the examination of the Terms of Reference for the preparation of the plan of water resources of the Doce River watershed and of the action plans of water resources for the watersheds of the Doce River's main tributaries (TdR-Doce), the article analyses how the guideline of participative citizenship envisaged by the Brazilian National Policy of Water Resources (PNRH) is realized in the elaboration of these plans. The references for the examination of the ToR were assumptions of water governance under international conventions, guidelines of the PNRH, the constitutional right to social democratic control-beyond the socio-historical context of the country. Besides the advances, the research outputs indicate a commitment to face the contradictions and limits of the participatory management in Brazil. Moreover, an emphasis on traditional discursive activities was identified to the detriment of innovative strategies of mobilization to engage new actors and expand the public sphere itself. If the guidelines and laws are idealized realities, the ToR is a planned reality at the executive level. In this sense, its analysis is fundamental in assessing the democratic quality of the process of preparing the water resources plans in the Doce River watershed.