by PublicABCP
Translated and reviewed by Matheus Lucas Hebling
The article “Diffusion and Operation of Municipal Councils Across States: Regulatory Regimes and Their Effects,” by Adrian Gurza Lavalle (USP), Hellen Guicheney (IESP/UERJ), and Carla de Paiva Bezerra (Diest–IPEA), investigates how norms produced at the state level influence the presence and functioning of municipal public policy councils.
Published in Revista Opinião Pública, the study analyzes the role of state-level regulatory regimes governing councils in three policy areas — cultural heritage, the environment, and social assistance — considering both their territorial diffusion and their operation at the municipal level.
The central objective of the study is to test whether state-level regimes expand the adoption of these councils in municipalities, affect their attributions, and whether their effects are more pronounced in areas with less federal regulation. To this end, the authors draw on national-level datasets (such as MUNIC, ESTADIC, and the SUAS Census) and apply regression models disaggregated by policy area, enabling comparison across different degrees of federal inducement and state autonomy.
The three policy areas were selected because they represent different positions in the typology proposed by the authors: social assistance is a sector with strong federal regulation, the environment occupies an intermediate position, and cultural heritage exhibits low federal regulation. This differentiation makes it possible to observe how state influence varies according to the available regulatory space.
The results indicate that state-level regimes have a more significant impact on councils embedded in sectors with less federal regulation, as is the case with cultural heritage. In this area, state-level norms account for a substantial share of the variation in both the presence and operation of councils.
In the environmental sector, state-level effects exist, but local factors — such as municipal size and administrative capacity — are also relevant. In social assistance, which is heavily regulated by the federal government, state-level effects are more limited, yet still perceptible in specific aspects of council operations.
The study contributes to the debate on multilevel governance and highlights the importance of incorporating the role of the states in analyses of public policy councils — an aspect still underexplored in the literature, which has historically privileged the relationship between the federal government and municipalities. By showing that state-level action can induce the creation and strengthen the functioning of these institutions, especially in sectors less regulated by the federal government, the authors broaden the understanding of federative arrangements and the dynamics of participation in the country.
Author Profiles
Adrian Gurza Lavalle is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at the Universidade de São Paulo (USP — University of São Paulo), president of the Centro Brasileiro de Análise e Planejamento (CEBRAP — Brazilian Center for Analysis and Planning), coordinator of the Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia Transformação da Participação, Associativismo e Conflitos Políticos (INCT Participa — National Institute of Science and Technology for the Transformation of Participation, Associativism, and Political Conflict), and deputy director of the Centro de Estudos da Metrópole (CEM — Center for Metropolitan Studies). He is also a researcher at INCT Participa and CEM.
Carla de Paiva Bezerra holds a Ph.D. and a master’s degree in Political Science from the Universidade de São Paulo and a law degree from the Universidade de Brasília. She is a member of the career track of Especialista em Políticas Públicas e Gestão Governamental (Specialist in Public Policy and Government Management), with over 12 years of experience in the public sector.
Hellen Guicheney is a consultant on methodological, analytical, and research issues at Synergia Consultoria Socioambiental. She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the Universidade de São Paulo (USP) and a master’s degree and undergraduate degree from the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG). She completed her postdoctoral research at the Instituto de Estudos Sociais e Políticos (IESP-UERJ — Institute of Social and Political Studies) in affiliation with NECON.
PUBLICATION DETAILS
Title: Diffusion and Operation of Municipal Councils Across States: Regulatory Regimes and Their Effects (Difusão e operação dos conselhos municipais nos estados: regimes de normatização e seus efeitos)
Authors: Adrian Gurza Lavalle, Hellen Guicheney, and Carla de Paiva Bezerra
Year of Publication: 2024
Available in: Revista Opinião Pública, v. 30
