New risks, the city and the intersectoriality of public policies

Abstract

This paper deals with the new risks and social demands - the new social issue - brought by the globalization process. These demands appeared together with deep changes in the urban process and with a new phenomenon - the city as a political actor - stressed by the recent decentralization processo The new urban environrnent and the decentralization policies in the social area favored greater intersectoriality of local public policies. However, due to the specificities of Brazilian decentralization and to the eventual prevalence of the local elites' will when dealing with decentralized policies, besides variables such as the federal economic policy and even bureaucratic and corporate resistance in public actions, the  adoption of intersectorial practices has been restricted to the local, experimental, and temporary leveis.