Local power, federalism and city government in Brasil

Abstract

Brasil is here said to be understood as a nation of continental dimensions having a population of over 190 million more than 50% of which lives in her cities. The paper examines some of the innovating initiatives and challenges that have marked the governance of these metropolitan areas which began to shape up as such in the 50s of the last century in the wake of industrial growth and the shift to the cities that this brought on with it. The authors point out here that such growth however did not come under any institutional control until the latter part of the 60s of the same century. For the authors, the on-set of such control would seem to fall into three distinct phases, a first, bearing the stamp of the then military regime offering a uniform pattern for the state as a whole and being marked by strict regulation and federal government funding leaving policy implementing to the Federal Governmental bodies, this to be followed by a second phase, born of the democratic revival of the country, this giving rise to a exaggerated role for local government in these matters leading to a no policy state of affairs in the metropolitan conglomerates. A third phase still in force is then recognized, this running from the 90s to date in which there is an effort made to rescue the metropolitan question through a variety of administrative approaches. The paper concludes with the admission that a satisfactory solution to the issue of how the metropolitan areas are to be run is still far from being hit upon, this due the conflicting aims and competencies, control of means and the sharing out of powers to act as between the Federal, State and City Governments though some progress is said to have been made.