Centralizationstill a conspicuous variable in Brazilian society

Resumo

In the formative process of Brazilian social and political institutions, centralization is a variable embedded in the Portuguese experience of government. The objective of this study was to present a few rudiments for appraising the de-centralization principle in the federal public administration. The propensity of Brazilian society towards centralization is supported by some-political and cultural factors, already detected by the theorists of our realities: a framework of patronage, State capitalism in the economic sphere and authoritarianism as concerns the social and political scenery. Centralization has been strengthened by a lack of participation in the governmental decision-marking, while public administration develops a pattern of welfare State, keeping itself remote from the implementation of governmental guidelines. De-centralization may be looked upon as an attribute of federalism, with which it blends, as well as a process of distribution of tasks and responsibilities. The evolution of the contemporary State has shown as one of its facets a tendency towards centralization, even in cases of federative republics, a circumstance which enables the Brazilian government to more comfortably examining the convenience of the adoption of de-centralization as a principle of public management. De-centralization has been suggested as a component of administrative reforms through the influence of the American scholars who provided the formative basis for the first Brazilian technicians to be trained in the USA. It is not a device with roots in the Brazilian culture but it is, nonetheless, constant1y suggested by reform commissions officially established, including the one operating now. It remains to be seen what will be the mechanisms the commission will propose to alleviate social and cultural variables of a more significant influence upon the dynamics of Brazilian administration: authoritarianism, centralism and patronage.

Ficha do documento

Tipo

Artigo científico

Ano

1987

Instituição

Escola Brasileira de Administração Pública e de Empresas da Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV EBAPE)

Fonte

Revista de Administração Pública

Idioma

Português

Acesso

Não informado

Identificador

oai:ojs.periodicos.fgv.br:article/9774

Temas

Gestão PúblicaAdministração Pública