Democracia e desenvolvimento no Brasil contemporâneo: Conflitos e articulação de interesses no projeto São Francisco

This paper examines the institutional arrangements that organize the arenas of formulation and implementation of development policies in Brazil, asking if such policies are setting up more democratic decision-making processes with the inclusion of a larger number of actors and at the same time if they are enhancing new State capabilities, that is, making the bureaucracy more able to undertake the purposes of the policies? The analysis of these arrangements is focused in particular on the relations established between bureaucracy and other political actors. The selected data for the study refer to the project of transposition of the São Francisco River Waters and show that despite the technical and political difficulties for its implementation, not yet fully overcome, two order of institutional innovations may be highlighted. The first refers to the new monitoring instruments and management (committees, 'situation rooms' etc.) that have reduced administrative barriers or bottlenecks. The second points out a possible new pattern of relationship between State and society: they are not characterized only by old political patronage grammars or bureaucratic insulation (which are still present), but also uphold greater sharing of decisions.