Brazil became a highly decentralized country as compared to other federal countries following redemocratization. Decentralization has changed intergovernmental relations as well as the role played by local governments and local societies. However, and despite the existence of many studies on decentralization, the results of decentralization are rarely analyzed vis-à-vis the country's inter- and intra-regional inequalities. This article argues that the results of decentralization in highly unequal polities are contradictory. On the one hand, decentralization creates incentives for the federal government to negotiate and compromise with subnational spheres the decision and the implementation of public policies. Decentralization also creates incentives for greater participation of local governments in the provision of social services and in the adoption of participatory policies at the local level. These features, however, make the relations between different levels of government and between local government and local citizens more complex. On the other hand, the Brazilian experience of decentralization with inequality brings about the constraints and the limits of decentralization in countries historically rooted in social and regional inequalities.
Decentralization; Local government; Social policy
