From 2019, federalism requires passing. In the beginning, the Bolsonaro government brandished liberal agendas and included political and institutional decentralization with the mantra “More Brazil, Menos Brasilia”. This agenda was not promoted and, worse, it was suppressed by the karnarist federalism of confrontation and exclusion rather than intergovernmental cooperation.
The governors reacted and went to fight. In managing the pandemic, with SUS and vaccinations – and now in managing the climate change agenda. They were joined by the Senate of the Republic, STF and important structures of civil society. The union was absent in coordinating the actions of the three levels of government. This jeopardized the governance and governance of the country. Makes autocratic decisions and opposes governors and mayors. In this context, forums have been created for governors and mayors – both in the fight against the pandemic, and in the actions of the government in the form of consortia and the like. In the same direction, measures are being taken to combat climate change. We must persist.
All indications are that strengthening the Federation, the permanent historical foundation of the Brazilian political structure, must be a major component of the collective effort – now, in 2022 and beyond – to create political anchors and build a stable governance environment. Together with the National Congress and the judiciary, it is a powerful and effective tool for restoring social cohesion and governance. Attention, presidential candidates of the republic! It is necessary to restore the political and institutional function of federalism as an example of dialogue and negotiation, that is, political and social mediation, leading to the effectiveness of government.
A more legitimate National Agenda, consistent with our multiple, complex and heterogeneous reality, should reconstruct this political-institutional vision of federalism. Union, states and municipalities are interdependent parts of one nation state. These are instances of Power that mediate social relations, not just levels of administrative “governance.”
Again, in 2019, 2020, and 2021, federalism was fundamental to building (politics) the plasticity of our political system. This enhances the ability to mediate and channel the complex social relationships that develop in the heterogeneous Brazilian society. Brazilian politics continues to have an unmistakable regional dimension that stems from the emphasized diversity that makes this country a great mosaic.
To the attention of presidential candidates! In terms of “political time”, the pendulum of federalism, which alternates between moments of centralization and moments of decentralization, is gradually giving way to the recent trend of recentralization to the pendulum movement of decentralization. However, the nationwide debate has not yet created an incentive to put these political dynamics on the national political agenda. It’s time.
Antonio Carlos de Medeiros … Doctorate in Political Science from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
