ABSTRACT
Social movements in Brazil are frequently viewed as responsible for a democratization of social relations. The importance of social movements is precisely the extent to which new collectivities can pressure their way into becoming legitimate political actors. The grassroot neighborhood movement expanded enormously along with the random and chaotic pattern of urban growth and modernization in Brazil. The new urban associations themselves thus represent the rise of new political actors and the development of a certain style of political representation. Thus the Federation of Neighborhood Associations of Rio de Janeiro was set up to represent both favela and middle class neighborhood associations. As a particular format of collective organization then, neighborhood associations are neither a new phenomenon nor a clear cut product of political openings or closures. The electoral process acquired an even more central and strategic position in the political transformation of the regime.
