Partidos políticos e política de assistência social nos municípios brasileiros: uma análise do impacto dos partidos no período entre 2005 e 2012

Abstract

The present dissertation aims at verifying whether the party of the mayor (head of the executive) is one of the explanatory factors for the development of soci al assistance policy in Brazilian municipalities between 2005 and 2012. This question arose from a concern about what might explain the differences between the municipalities even with the increasing consolidation of the Brazilian Single Social Assistance System (Sistema Único de Assistência Social) and of the coordination and induction federal mechanisms of the municipalization of the social assistance policy. One possible explanation for the differences between the municipalities is the impact of the parties that govern municipalities, their ideological positions and their alignment with the National Executive. The hypothesis on the alignment with the federal government was built considering the prioritization and fostering given to social assistance policy for this level of government since 2004. To address this issue ten analytical models were built applying multivariate regression. The results show that, among the political factors, what seems to matter the most to explain the development of social assistance policy in the municipalities in the analyzed period is the partisan alignment with the federal government. The fact that the mayors party integrates the presidential coalition has a positive effect on municipalities social assistance spending and on human resources allocated. Despite confirming the party governing the municipality impacts the development of the social assistance policy, such impact is still modest when compared to other explanatory factors, in particular, the legacy.