Networks and democratic governance: the case of a public institution of higher education of Minas Gerais – Brazil

Abstract

This paper is about the presentation of the social network of partnerships in 2010 around a Federal Institution of Higher Education – IFES, located at Minas Gerais State. The aim of this paper is to show how the practices of formal partnerships can contribute to the formation of democratic governance. The approach was quantitative, using as tool of the collecting data, a documental research. We analyzed the database of a body responsible for the management of the instruments of partnerships agreements and we classified the partner institutions in public, private, third sector, individuals and foreign institutions. The results were the construction of sociograms as a graphic representation showing the main elements of democratic governance. The survey revealed that partnerships as institutional practices can contribute for the establishment of a network of democratic governance, guided by a leading organization. Thereby, it can form partnerships of following types: public-public and public-private, permeated by the dimensions of governance (rules of governance defined), management (the practice of technology management), autonomy (respect to institutional abilities), mutuality (mutual responsibility), confidence and reciprocity (strengthening of teaching, research and extension activities). In this sense, the social network formed by partnerships can be categorized as a “network of democratic governance”.