Patterns of governance and government in São Paulo, Brazil

The paper departs from existing studies to discuss the main governance patterns present in urban and social policies in São Paulo. The article highlights the configuration of actors involved, the institutional settings in which governance occurs and the political grammars that regulate the processes, taking into account the various policy heritages involved, as well as different government levels, considering Brazilian federalism. At least five governance patterns are present:

1. Social policies (education, health and social assistance) – These policies have been under intense reform in the last decades. The resulting policy systems involve institutionalized social participation and local implementation, but under federal regulation, resulting in high standardization between municipalities.

2. Large infra-structure policies (sanitation, energy, subway) – These policies are formulated inside large state companies in a close decision process. Interest intermediation occurs thought contacts within the thematic networks that bind technicians, appointed politicians and private contractors. Corruption is targeted to influence public bids and is connected to the financing of electoral campaigns.

3. Public infra-structure construction and urban services (bus transportation and garbage collection) – policy formulation and implementation also occurs within public agencies, but in this case with lower insulation. The community networks bind contractors, technicians and politicians together. Corruption is also more common.

4. Large urban investments and large urban projects – These cases involve mainly local government actors, but with very close decision processes within a network of actors including construction companies, large scale developers, municipal  technical bureaucracies and local politicians.

5. Small daily decisions in zoning, building regulations and construction approval – by historical heritage, this is completely under control of the municipal governments in a strongly decentralized way. The issue involves strong negotiations and a great deal of corruption involving street level bureaucrats, small building constructors, developers and local politicians.