Brazilian Local Self-Government: Myth or Reality?

Abstract

N THE ANGLO-AMERICAN TRADITION, local government means both dependent and self-government. If these two ideas can be juxtaposed, it would be recognized that the dependence is basically a legal matter while the self-government is essentially a political one. Both determine the nature and status of our local institutions. In the first place, local governments cannot exercise all powers but only those granted by concession or delegation from higher governments, or states. In the second place, the concessions themselves have been sufficiently large and generous to permit local self-control. When coupled with popular ideas and political developments, such as the popular election of local leaders, the growth of decentralized political parties, the association of local control with efficiency, experimentation, and similar ideas, the limiting effects of these concessions have been reduced. The predominance of these political factors has, in fact, exerted a profound influence over the self-governing and autonomous character of American local institutions. The history and contemporary status of Brazilian local government runs counter to this tradition. In many respects Luzo-Brazilian political history more closely resembles that of the continental European nations where local autonomy has never really developed to any considerable extent. In Portugal, a centralizing monarchy early recognized the value of a strong local authority. Royal justice required strict regulation and control of the particularly selfish and ambitious rural oligarchs. Constituting the nobility, these individuals did not assist the emerging local institutions, as was true in England, but instead sought to use them for their own selfish interests. Later in Brazil, this same privileged oligarchy obtained control in many areas. Dominating the local assemblies, they perpetuated an authoritarian tradition. In both countries, had the rural aristocracy not placed its own interests above those of the community, it is conceivable that a greater degree of local autonomy predicated upon popular support might have developed. The intention of this study is not to analyze the nature of the struggle between public and private authority, which has influenced Brazilian political institutions in many different ways.' Rather it is an effort to assess the effects of this struggle on contemporary local institutions. The material presented will analyze some of the factors reducing the effectiveness of local self-control. It will