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86 THE ISA HANDBOOK IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGY

Table 6.7 How often is the webpage fill out an income tax declaration do so
updated through the Internet. But, these are only
Frequency Valid percent 16.5 million or around 9% of the population.
Daily 32 13.5 So the chance that NGOs will reach only
Twice a week 14 5.9 those who are already part of the political
Weekly 47 19.8
Monthly 54 22.8 community seems high. Certainly, the quality
Less than once a month 90 38.0 of citizenship may increase considerably, but
the consequences for the worse-off may not
Total 237 100.0
be so spectacular as the imagery of new
Source: Sample survey 2004/2005.
participatory channels suggests.
(Matthews, 1997). We are also used to hear- Naturally, since NGOs have largely tar-
ing that minorities and excluded groups can geted e-publics, they can be more effective in
now bypass their isolation and move directly communicating and mobilizing support. But
from the local to the global level, thanks to as such, they should be compared to interest
the Internet. Notwithstanding the many anec- groups, unions, lobbies, etc., not to the
dotal success stories about natives who public sector.
quickly mobilize international support for To further enquire into the nature of the
their cause, can we say that NGOs are in gen- relationships between NGOs and the state,
eral more apt to communicate with civil soci- we then asked how the former see them-
ety than state agencies? I would argue that it selves: would they say that they are primarily
is premature to jump to this conclusion. To a social or a communitarian organization that
begin with, taking into account that less than works mainly through voluntary participa-
20% of the Brazilian population has access to tion? Or are they better described as an
home computers, one must conclude that organization of specialists and technical
generalized communication is a problematic advisers dedicated to collective goals? The
feature of e-practices in Brazil, no matter if answers we received reveal a quite balanced
such practices are originated by the state or by division between ‘communitarian’ and ‘advi-
civil society organizations. Second, it is impor- sory’ NGOs. But among the latter, the
tant to bear in mind that unequal access to elec- proportion of those who say they act in part-
tronic communication may indeed accentuate nership with the federal government is
oligopolies of participation and representation. higher. In turn, at the local level, the pro-
Furthermore, one has to observe that, like portions are reversed with more ‘communi-
NGOs, the governmental sector in Brazil tarian’ than ‘advisory’ NGOs acting in part-
presents, in relative terms, a very high degree nership with the government.
of computerization, despite the fact that citi- Last but not least, we enquired into the
zenship remains restricted to a minority. propensity of NGOs to take over functions
Access to government has become in many traditionally performed by state agencies.
ways much easier and comfortable for those Though this part of the study has hardly
who already had less difficult access. For started, it is possible to say that NGOs of a
example, today, 95% of the Brazilians who more advisory and/or technical profile are
more likely to develop partnership with the
Table 6.8 Major purpose of the webpage federal administration than those that define
Frequency Percent themselves as ‘communitarian’. The latter
To advertise its actions 212 86.9 show a slightly higher rate of partnership
To provide information with local administrations than do the advo-
of general interest 18 7.4 cacy type. As to partnership with regional
Networking 14 5.7
states, there are no big differences between
Total 244 100.0 the two models of NGOs. These results are
Source: Sample survey 2004/2005. reproduced in Tables 6.9, 6.10, and 6.11.