Research-action and dialogical mediation as methodological practices favoring the emergence of communication initiatives in Councils of Public Policy Managers

Abstract This article examines two methodological practices to support the participation in the spaces of Managers Councils of Public Policies: action research and dialogical mediation. More specifically, we intend to consider whether and how such practices may be stimulating the emergence of communicative action among the participatory institutional designs of the Councils. In order to do it, a study was done in the Municipal Council for Sustainable Rural Development of Viçosa - MG (CMDRS). The theoretical basis of the article is based on the discussion of legitimacy and participation within the deliberative democracy; the methodology used is based on a combination of documental and qualitative researches. As main results, it is understood that such methodological practices constitute, depending on how they are used, as important qualification mechanisms of formal participatory spaces.