The Brazilian states and the Federal Social Assistance System: state capacity-building in Maranhão and São Paulo

Abstract

This article is part of a set of studies seeking to understand the implications of federative design in public policies. The unit of analysis adopted is the national public policies systems. The studies suggest the importance of gradual and continued strengthening of state capacities of subnational governments to implement policies. Several articles investigate the relationship between federalized systems and state capacity-building in local governments. However, little is known about how this relationship occurs in state governments. This research investigated how the Brazilian Sistema Único de Assistência Social (SUAS) (Federal Social Assistance System) affects the capacity of state governments to implement policies and analyzed the program of eradication of child labor in the states of Maranhão and São Paulo. We sought to explain how the combination of SUAS institutional characteristics and the structural, institutional, and political conditions present in these states have regulated or built state capacities. The results indicate that these conditions were decisive for state capacity-building and, above all, show the role played by the Brazilian state governments in SUAS.