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This paper deals with various political participation practices, in the case of a popular neighborhood, located in a “satelite” city of Brasilia. It observes that participation pratices are not located within local participative institutions, but are rather based on the construction of political exchange relationships between local political entrepreneurs and their brokers in the neighborhoods. The paper shows that participation practices are embedded in personalized relationships with the political leaders. It is based on the observation of participation practices, on the analysis of the participative milieu as well as on the reconstitution of the political trajectories of community leaders.