El gobierno de las megalópolis, el caso de Brasil, São Paulo: gestión metropolitana, descentralización y participación como desafíos simultáneos

The government of a megalopolis, such as São Paulo, shows singular challenges that do not exist in less complex urban contexts. Being a city of a country with a recent industrialized economy, with an income (functional and geographical) highly concentrated, that has resumed the democracy for only one quarter of a century, this megacity lives with its own political and organizational assignments, due to the contradictory character of the political behavior of its habitants/ voters and of the traditionalist nature of populism and patronage in the relationship between the rulers and the ruled and between the Executive and Legislative powers at the local level. In such context, the difficulties to prosecute the assignments of the metropolitan organization, the decentralization and the institutionalization of citizen participatory channels in the governance and administrative activities are huge. The centrifuge forces (of the decentralization of the local government, through subprefectures), the centripetal forces ( of the metropolitan organization process) and the diffuse forces (of the claiming popular participation) act simultaneously over the deciding processes, in São Paulo, receiving, still, state and national political influences, since the city is a very significant historically producer of political and electoral capital. The analysis of the recent experience of the creation of the subprefectures and the representative counsels (fixed in the Municipality Organic Law of 1990) and the attempt to implement the participatory budgeting, in two occasions (1989-1992 and 2001-2004), reveal some of the social and political reasons that make difficult the establishment of a solidly democratic governance and of a more efficient public administration in the metropolitan area of São Paulo.

Do Fundef ao Fundeb: avaliando o passado para pensar o futuro: um estudo de caso no município de Pirapozinho-SP

Este artigo, que envolve a combinação de procedimentos quantitativos e qualitativos, traz resultados de pesquisa que analisou o impacto do Fundef na estruturação da rede municipal de ensino de Pirapozinho-SP, e mostra como estes resultados trazem subsídios para um funcionamento mais adequado da atual política de financiamento da educação. Constatou-se que, mesmo sem aumentar os recursos financeiros do ensino fundamental, o Fundef racionalizou e tornou mais eficiente a sua aplicação, diminuindo desvios e desperdícios, e que a instituição dos Conselhos de Acompanhamento e Controle Social possibilitou maior participação popular na fiscalização do executivo aumentando a transparência dos gastos com educação, que a constituição do Fundef abriu a possibilidade de implantação do Fundeb atualmente em vigor e que a melhoria no funcionamento deste está relacionada ao aumento da participação da sociedade nas decisões da política educacional e ao investimento na qualificação desta participação.

Os desafios da reforma da polícia no Brasil

Brazil’s transition from a political and legal system to a democracy was accompanied by numerous legal and institutional reforms. In a context of struggle towards a broad political participation in public policies and risen criticism towards state actions, the extent and effects of these reforms have not been sufficiently deep to impact the problems and redefine the agenda. The main goal of this academic research is to understand the resistance to change and new paradigms that define the broad agenda of public safety.