Federalism and the implementation of federal government public services: the Brazilian experience in social policies

Abstract:

The redesign of Brazilian federalism after the 1988 Constitution resulted in the reorganization of federal action. There was a shift from the Union as a direct executor of many public policies to the role of formulator and maker of guidelines for the actions of subnational entities. This arrangement was designed in various areas of government activity, especially social policy. The question that arises is whether this pattern of federative action can be also observed in relation to public services under the direct responsibility of the federal government. Based on an original database of 1740 public services implemented by the federal government, the presence of services performed for or in partnership with states and municipalities is shown to be relevant for the social area. The results corroborate the understanding of the literature that in Brazilian federalism, subnational entities are highly important for the implementation of public policies and that the institutional arrangements of the public policy sectors condition a more or less decentralized pattern of action by the federal manager.

Keywords:
Federalism; Intergovernmental relations; Public services; Federal government