This paper offers a succinct presentation of three different experiences of governmental decentralization: the cases of the states of Minas Gerais, Ceará and Santa Catarina. Analysis of these cases enabled us to observe two aspects that are fundamental for evaluating policies of governmental descentralization and regional development: the first is the problem of solutions of continuity, affecting public policy and representing a threat at every election time. The second is related to the qualification needs of governmental agents involved in the aforementioned policies, whose success is partially contingent on the former. In the state of Minas Gerais, decentralization processes were definitively interrupted. In the state of Ceará, a modernizing continuism can be found. In the case of the state of Santa Catarina, the substitution of one initiative for another brought about a shift in inflections, but did not interrupt basic dynamics.
regional development; political and regional decentralization; Minas Gerais; Ceará; Santa Catarina