A política de assistência social implantada em municípios emancipados na década de 1990: a experiência dos municípios de pequeno porte associados à AMERP

Abstract

This is concerned with a qualitative research that the aim purpose is the Implantation of National Politic of Social Assistance (Política Nacional de Assistência Social) in cities emancipated recently. Its purpose was understand how the National Politic of Social Assistance had been implanted in these cities during these years and what are their prospects for the implantation of the Unique System of Social Assistance (Sistema Único de Assistencia Social). For this reason, we tried to identify and to characterize the profile of the informing social actors of this process; pointing out the bonds between the politicos and administrative elements that support the implantation of the politics; to verify the mechanisms of popular participation for the implantation of the Politics of Social Assistance and, to characterize the types of ideo-politicos interests that had been included during all the process. As theoretical conceptualization we tried to refer to the construction of the Brazilian State, focused on the trajectory of politico-administrative reforms approaching since the construction of the Brazilian federalism until the redefinitions that had guided the 1988 Pos-Constitution emancipations. Moreover we approached the discussion about the process of decentralization and municipalization of the Social Politics, showing the public management of these politics up the Implantation of the Unique System of Social Assistance in these cities. The research was done within two cities of Zona da Mata Mineira – Rosário da Limeira and São Sebastiao da Vargem Alegre – and as a methodological resource we used the semi-structuralized interview with four groups of social actors: counsellors, councilmen, managers and mayors, totalizing 34 (thirty-four) interviews. Besides interviews, we observed the meetings of City Councils of Social Assistance in both cities, as well as reading the acts of the same ones. After the collection of data we defined the profile of the social actors involved in the process of the Implantation of the Social assistance in the city, the constitution of useful instruments for the Politic Implantation, operation dynamics and the construction process of the politic of Social Assistance, ending with the prospects for the Implantation of the Unique System of Social Assistance in those cities. Characterizing all these aspects drove us on to understand the Social Assistance like a public politic that still demanding improvement on for the strength implantation and disassociation with concepts like clienteles and assistancialism.