## Notes from 07 June 2025 [[2025-06-06|← Previous note]] ┃ [[2025-06-08|Next note →]] # Notes on administrative reform: How the brazilian left is forging a new vocabulary The Speaker of Brazil's Chamber of Deputies has established a working group with less than two months to organize an administrative reform proposal for congressional debate. Various civil society actors are mobilizing to influence the group, [which recently met with the Ministry of Management and Innovation in Public Services (MGI)](https://www.gov.br/gestao/pt-br/assuntos/noticias/2025/maio/mgi-discute-transformacao-do-estado-com-parlamentares-do-grupo-de-trabalho-da-reforma-administrativa). Following the meeting, the ministry published two key documents: the "State Transformation" [booklet (MGI 2023/24)](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zQjbpYK4AMyaSyl_WLrST9X1ozAWA7nU/view?usp=drive_link) and the [CDESS discussion paper](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TzQHGThcHVne5YIRpDJhNDGq7nslge_j/view?usp=drive_link) "An inclusive, democratic and effective State." First thing that stands out: for the first time in decades, the Brazilian left is getting excited about modernizing the state. In previous government experiences, this was never a priority - it always competed for attention with social policies and other agendas. Now it seems different. The Lula 3.0 government has been trying to create its own language to talk about state reform, something that was never really in the Brazilian left's vocabulary. What follows is a good faith attempt to summarize what the government has written and the ideas underlying these documents and the broader agenda when it comes to this topic. I don’t necessarily agree with these ideas (to be honest, I challenge most of them) but for now I’ll set aside the questioning. My aim here is simply to present the government's points to facilitate discussion later. ## What the documents reveal The analysis shows a well-thought strategy to reposition the debate. The government wants to move away from the minimalist state model that dominated reforms in recent decades and build a robust "enabling state" as the engine of development. Key points: - **HR issues are treated as "state capacity":** They argue that delivering results depends on having a strong state and rebuilding the federal workforce that was "dismantled" (presumably during the Temer and Bolsonaro administrations). - **Representative bureaucracy is important**: The state must mirror the population's diversity, with active policies for Black people, women, and Indigenous groups in public service. - **Digitalization for sovereignty**: Digital transformation isn't just about efficiency, it's about enhanced citizenship and national sovereignty (CIN, Sovereign Cloud with Brazilian data centers) - **Public assets with social function**: Repositioning state-owned enterprises and federal real state as strategic tools, not liabilities to be sold off (like the "Imóvel da Gente" program converting vacant properties into social housing) ## Who they're fighting against The documents attack two narratives: - **The "fiscal-only" reform approach**: They criticize what Minister Esther Dweck calls a "biased and reductionist debate" that reduces administrative reform to mere cost-cutting - **The "bloated state" myth**: They present comparative data showing Brazil's public employment as a share of active population is modest compared to OECD averages (however, they avoid making comparisons about the cost of the public sector and include data on the workforce in states and municipalities in the data presented) ## How they're selling it - Interesting strategy: they anchor the agenda in easily communicable flagship projects. The CPNU ("[[231006 Challenges of Brazil’s 'Unified Civil Service Exam'|Enem dos Concursos]]") as the symbol of inclusive recruitment, the National Identity Card (CIN) as the emblem of citizen-centric digital government. And they always frame reforms as products of social dialogue - CDESS council, union negotiation tables after years of salary freezes, engagement with G20 and CLAD forums. - They also strategically reframe traditional functions. Government procurement gets elevated from a simple purchasing mechanism to a strategic lever for promoting small businesses, gender equality, and sustainable development (The influence of [[Mariana Mazzucato]]'s ideas is evident). ## The strategic silences Points they don't address much: - Long-term fiscal costs of this vision of a larger, better-paid, more active state - How to deal with underperformance (they talk about positive incentives for good performance, but what about negative ones?) - Entrenched clientelism and corruption - they bet that new virtuous systems will make old pathologies wither, less focus on direct confrontational dismantling - Implementation complexity - they present decades-long endeavors (overhauling the entire federal career system, changing governance of all state-owned enterprises) as clear, actionable goals ## Why this matters This might be the first time in Brazil's democratic history that the left is building its own positive language about state reform, instead of just reacting defensively to "neoliberal" proposals. If successful, it could redefine the terms of debate about the state's role in national development. Success will depend on overcoming the challenges that their own documents fail to address. However, it is fascinating to observe the attempt to establish a proprietary vocabulary for a theme that has traditionally been associated with the right wing in Brazil. The government is engaged in a sophisticated effort to engineer a paradigm shift, replacing a narrative of austerity and 'state minimalism' with one that does not yet have a defined identity, but which says a lot about state-led, 'inclusive' development.