The Brazilian economic and social development council from a legal-institutional perspective: an investigation on effectiveness and legitimacy in the new Brazilian developmental state

Abstract

Developmental states that managed to engender economic growth leaps, highlights current research, relied on bureaucracies that were not only autonomous, but also embedded in a network of connections with the private sector. However, in both the Brazilian and in the international experience, such ties included only a handful of internal and external players (thus ruling out most of civil society). The literature, therefore, indicates an impasse: is it possible to construct a state that is both developmental and democratic? Under the hypothesis that attempts to resolve this tension must necessarily account for the concrete institutional arrangements that structure state activity - and in which law is inevitably interwoven -, I propose with this research project a master's thesis structure aimed at analyzing the Brazilian Economic and Social Development Council from a legal-institutional perspective. The Council is an institution created in 2003 with the aim of fostering contact and exchange between the public and private sectors - this time, however, while also including representatives from a wider variety of social sectors. Supported by an interdisciplinary literature and empirical research methods, I aim to understand how the Council's legal-institutional structure contributes to determining the effectiveness and legitimacy of its deliberations. With this research I intend to further the current understanding of the arrangements that shape public-private cooperation in the new Brazilian developmental state. (AU)