Governance, actors and development: an analysis of changes in the scale of planning, reallocation of responsibilities and performance of territorial actors

Abstract

The discussion on development has returned to the public agenda of Brazilian society, specifically on the issue of the role of the state in the economy. The issue circulates in the debate between the adoption of interventionism or neoliberalism, both of which present a vertical (top-down) vision of the development process. However, despite these two tendencies or majority conceptions, we can identify a possibility of thinking development supported by a possible complementarity between these two logics through the construction of institutional (territorial) intermediary arrangements between the State and the market. These can play an important role in the formulation of regional development policies, seeking a real territorial registration and appreciation of social participation. These are specific initiatives for territorial development and are characterized by actions, strategies and policies to (re) build the local productive base, and may or may not have an impact on the territory. In this sense, the existence of institutional mechanisms for cooperation and coordination of actions, in which we have identified as structures of territorial governance, is essential, especially when we observe changes evidenced both in the planning scale and in the action of the actors.Important a clarification, territorial or endogenous development, is in constant dialogue with the developmental theory, and can be considered as conflicting, but not contrary, theories. The novelty lies in the role assigned to civil society, even if it is marked by historical obstacles, as we can very well observe with the Brazilian reality. Such a perspective has to be taken as a mechanism for overcoming these obstacles as new theories and new concrete experiences in Brazil and in the world aiming at a participatory and democratic development. In this regard, the performance of public power is fundamental to mediate conflicts, but this does not mean centralizing the decision-making process. That said, the objective of the present internship proposal is to analyze the changes evidenced both in the planning scale and in the action scale that has led to a reallocation of responsibilities and the very performance of the different territorial actors. As specific objectives we will problematize the scales of action of development planning that has been placed as a necessary exercise for its effective territorialization; (ii) Identify and analyze the role of the different actors that make up the site and how territorial governance materializes; (iii) To compare the process of articulation of the place in a complex federal structure like the Brazilian one, the light of the French reality and others worked by Prof. supervisor; (iv) Reflect on the possible present relations between the theory of territorial development and structuring principles of new-developmentalism, based on cepalinos ideas. As seen, the proposal addresses directly the central pillar of the ongoing research, especially regarding the analysis of the process of territorial development and the importance of governance as a way of organizing the territory. Given the importance of this novelty in the field of public policies in the vast field of regional planning, we justify the request of the BEPE advocating that for a decentralization of public policies of effective development in Brazil it is important that the spaces of tripartite participation (public power, business and civil society) are considered as strategic for the construction of a regional development policy that favors a multi-scale approach and that has its basic elements in participation, cooperation and coordination (governance). (AU)