Rise and Crisis of the Social Assistance System in Brazilian Federalism.

Abstract

In this article, the institutional trajectory of the Brazilian Unified Social Assistance System is analyzed, based on federal management data from its inception to the present day. For that, legislations that deal with budget and legislative changes in social assistance policy were analyzed. The analysis of the evidence obtained indicates that, since the Temer government, there has been a process of weakening of the Unified Social Assistance System, materialized in public policy divestment decisions, which was evidenced by the Project for Constitutional Amendment to the Expenditure Ceiling. It was identified that the administration of President Bolsonaro expanded the deconstruction of the System, specifically through the reduction of the role of the Federal Government in the fight against federative inequalities, demonstrated in the extinction of the Ministry of Social Development and in the dismantling of the institutional mechanisms of federal coordination. Thus, the form of management of the Social Assistance Policy in the last two governments represents a break with cooperative federalism.

Keywords:
Public Policy Systems; Unified Social Assistance System; Federalism; Intergovernmental relations