Creative strategies for spatial policy making in Brazilian 'new left regionalism': fighting inequalities and COVID- 19 in the north-east region
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Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society
https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsab029
Creative strategies for spatial policy making in Brazilian
‘new left regionalism’: fighting inequalities and COVID-
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19 in the north-east region
Hipólita Siqueira and Carlos Brandão
Institute for Urban and Regional Planning and Research, Federal University of Rio de
Janeiro, Avenida Horacio Macedo, 2151, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, hipolitaufrj@gmail.com;
brandaoufrj@gmail.com
Received on December 1, 2020; editorial decision on September 5, 2021; accepted on September 21, 2021
The literature on the new regionalism has highlighted the leading role played by regions in
the contemporary process of state rescaling and the governance of policy-making. We argue
that a (re)politicisation of North-east Brazil and the emergence of a new left regionalism
are underway. We examine the political and socioeconomic circumstances of this process
through the creation of the Interstate Consortium for the Sustainable Development of the
North-east. We conclude that while many challenges still lie ahead, this experience has dem-
onstrated potential for the coherence of policies, and for constituting new political actors
and arenas for the concertation of interests.
Keywords: spatial policy-making, new left regionalism, interstate institutional arrangement, re-
gional development consortium, COVID-19, North-east Brazil
JEL Classifications: H77, I38, O18, O21, R58
Introduction At the time of writing, the total number of
cases was over 20 million with a death toll of
The global COVID-19 pandemic, by acceler-
more than 570,000 (Johns Hopkins University),
ating and condensing ongoing crises and contra-
thereby positioning Brazil amongst the three
dictions, has posed enormous challenges for
countries most affected by the pandemic (be-
public policies and the fight against inequalities.
hind the US and India), with only 32% of its
Its consequences have been both far-reaching
population fully vaccinated. This conjuncture
and devastating, and have unevenly affected
stands in sharp contrast to Brazil’s swift, in-
the population in racial, gender, socioeconomic
ventive responses during other previous epi-
and socio-spatial terms.
demics, such as Zika and HIV. It also contrasts
With Jair Bolsonaro, a science denialist,
with the existence of a public health system,
Trump-impersonating, authoritarian president,
the Unified Health System (SUS), which en-
Brazil has found itself in the challenging situ-
ables coordinated inter-federative actions of
ation of having to deal simultaneously with its
primary care, particularly for the low-income
pre-existing systemic inequalities and the tra-
population.
gedy of the COVID-19 crisis.
© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Cambridge Political Economy Society. All
rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.comSiqueira and Brandão
In other critical, challenging situations, Brazil taken against a central government that has in-
has managed to develop consistent public pol- creasingly inflicted chaos and has thereby ag-
icies and strategies. The originality and cre- gravated the economic and political crises.
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ativity, for example, may be highlighted with In the past, the North-east was known for its
regards to the Participatory Budget and the conservative regionalism, and that only voiced
Bolsa Família Programme (a conditional cash its demands for resource transfers from the
transfer programme), even in the context of central government. Meanwhile, since 2019,
neoliberal experimentation and fast policies the governors of the nine North-eastern states
(Peck and Theodore, 2015). have attempted to structure a new bottom-up
Brazil endured twenty-one years of military regionalism, based on a broad political coali-
dictatorship (1964–1985) and its process of tion. To this end, in an attempt to revisit the
redemocratisation, with decisive grassroots, led creativity of the Deliberation Council at
to the inclusion in the 1988 Federal Constitution the Superintendency for the Development of
of a set of social rights, guarantees and general the North-east (SUDENE), originally pro-
guidelines for public policy (and is known, posed and led by the economist Celso Furtado,
therefore, as the ‘Citizen’s Constitution’). Within the North-eastern state governors created
the context of an emerging neoliberalism in the Interstate Consortium for the Sustainable
the 1990s, its greatest challenge was to face the Development of the North-east (CNE),
manifestations of underdevelopment and de- declaring this great critical thinker as its patron
pendence (Brandão and Siqueira, 2020), his- and inspiration. Thus, the regional issue became
torically constituted throughout the various politicised through an alliance that sought to
regions and cities of Brazil. revive, pursue and transform the long history of
After the conservative government of creative spatial policy-making.
Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1994–2002), with In this article, we argue that a new left re-
privatisations and institutional dismantling, gionalism is emerging through the (re)pol-
Brazil lived through its Pink Tide (Chodor, iticisation of North-east Brazil, therefore
2015) under the governments of the Workers underpinning a state rescaling from the bottom
Party (PT), with Presidents Lula da Silva, up. We aim to analyse the CNE’s creative spa-
(2003–2010) and Dilma Roussef (2011–im- tial policy-making to fight socioeconomic and
peachment in 2016). Their five thousand days regional inequalities. The region represents
in power were successful in reducing inequal- 27.2% of the nation’s population and just 14.4%
ities and restoring policy onto the urban and of its GDP. According to the Brazilian Institute
regional policy agenda. And it was in the re- of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), almost
gion with the most inequalities, the North-east, 60% of Brazilians living in extreme poverty
that these policies achieved the broadest, most (less than US$1.9 PPP) are in the North-east.
articulate results. This cycle of innovations in The COVID-19 pandemic has posed critical
public policies was interrupted by a judicial- challenges for and prompted inventive initia-
media-parliamentary coup (Singer, 2019, 2020) tives from this institutional arrangement, thus
that led to the impeachment of President increasing the need for regional coordination.
Dilma Roussef in 2016 and sent President Lula Hence, we examine the role of COVID-19 as
da Silva to prison in 2018. an accelerator in the mobilisation of political
In stark contrast to the rest of the country, forces that was well underway.
almost all the North-eastern states voted From an exploratory, qualitative methodo-
overwhelmingly in favour of left-wing parties logical approach, we seek to contribute to the
during the same elections that brought Jair literature on the new regionalism and its inter-
Bolsonaro to power in 2018. Thus, a stand was sections with the contemporary process of state
Page 2 of 19Creative strategies for spatial policy making in Brazilian ‘new left regionalism’
rescaling (Agnew, 2013; Brenner, 2004, 2009; actors’ (cities and regions) within the context
Jessop, 2002; Keating, 1997, 2021; Lovering, of globalisation and the multi-scalar reorgan-
1999; MacLeod, 2001; Salone, 2010). isation of economic power, as well as the power
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For this, research was conducted in official of the national states (Ohmae, 1995; Scott, 1998;
databases, webinars, scientific journals and Storper, 1997).
newspaper articles (O Correio, O Povo, Jornal At the risk of simplifying such a complex
do Commércio, Folha de S. Paulo, Portal UOL, debate, it may be stated that part of this litera-
The New York Times and The Guardian). In ture, termed ‘new regionalism’, evolved towards
addition, based on the principle of saturation the discussion on new institutional frameworks
sampling, we conducted seven semi-structured promoted by regional trade agreements (es-
interviews with scholars and policymakers. pecially the European Union (EU)), state
These were key actors, who had occupied prom- rescaling and changes in intergovernmental
inent positions in the PT national governments relations (Brenner, 2004, 2009; Jessop, 2002;
and/or are engaged in the initiatives promoted Keating, 1997, 2021; Loughlin, 2013).
by the CNE, one of whom is the Programme According to Lobao et al. (2009, p6), in an
Subsecretary of the consortium. editorial from the CJRES, this literature con-
Besides this introduction and conclusions, siders a tendential transition from a Keynesian
the article is divided into three other sections. welfare nation state to new forms of state or-
The first outlines key insights of the critical ganisation in which ‘[...] centralised planning
perspectives on the new regionalism and how and top-down state-driven development have
they intersect with the debate on state rescaling given way to multiscalar forms of governance,
and intergovernmental relations. Attention is allowing the state to operate simultaneously in
drawn to the diversification and complexity specific places and at multiple scales’.
of this topic in a federated developing country Based on the case study of Italy, Salone
with significant regional inequalities. The (2010) demonstrated how regions have taken
second examines the role played by the policies on a leading role in development policies in
implemented by the PT national governments a more complex system of governance within
in the North-eastern socioeconomic and polit- the EU.
ical changes, and which underpinned the emer- While remaining sympathetic towards the
gence of the new left regionalism. The third research agenda brought about by the de-
analyses the politics and actions of the CNE in bate on state rescaling, we respond to the call
tackling both the inequalities and COVID-19, put forward by Agnew (2013) for studies on
with emphasis on the creation of the Scientific real existing regionalisms. For Agnew (2013),
Committee to Combat COVID-19 (C4NE). the literature is biased by understanding
the emergence of the new regionalism as an
automatic response to the global rescaling
Critical perspectives on new of capitalism and not primarily as a political
regionalism and state rescaling question. He also argued that the ‘national
through the lens of the Brazilian landscape of power has deeper and more per-
institutional framework sistent roots’. Similarly, Cox (2009) criticised
The problems surrounding regional the fact that the literature on state rescaling
decision-making and the politicisation of re- has been highly influenced by the context of
gional spaces are classical issues in socio-spatial policies and multi-level governance imple-
studies (Markusen, 1983; Massey, 1978). Since mented by the EU.
the 1980s, many scholars have claimed that Brenner (2009, p128) recognised the need
there has been a resurgence of ‘old territorial for studies in other institutional contexts and
Page 3 of 19Siqueira and Brandão
in variegated politico-spatial formations. He views the state governors of this region as his
proposed a ‘meso-level approach [that has] en- political enemies.
tailed the excavation of contextually specific Thus, we set out to analyse the political ex-
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(national, regional and local) histories of insti- periments in North-east Brazil, considering
tutional reorganisation and policy change’. He the institutional specificities of a developing
reflected that the rescaling of state space oc- country, without a comprehensive welfare
curs through a conflictual ‘layering’ process and state and with significant regional inequalities.
political-territorial alliances. In order to reflect upon this problem, it is ne-
Thus, we build on this debate by exploring cessary to consider that in Latin America the
the interconnections between regionalism and various, frequent cycles of military dictator-
state rescaling in Brazil. We argue that the ships and the constancy of a weak democracy
political experimentation of the CNE has re- have assigned different constraints and trajec-
vealed a creative institutional arrangement and tories to state rescaling.1
indicates the emergence of a new left region- In Brazil, following 21 years of dictatorship
alism of state governors within the context of (1964–1985), and amid an external debt crisis,
Brazilian federalism. the progressive social and political forces be-
This experience helps to understand the re- came organised, thereby leading towards a con-
gions not only as a ‘container’ for policies, but stitutional review, standing against a central
also as a space for politics, as in Salone (2010). bureaucratic-authoritarian, autocratic state and
As Agnew (2013, p138) suggested, ‘It is the pol- advocating municipal decentralisation.
iticisation of particular regional spaces that be- The institutional reorganisation and pol-
gets regionalism. To understand regionalism, itical change promoted by the 1988 Federal
therefore, requires understanding this politi- Constitution (FC/1988) (Brazil, 1988) provided
cisation’. We also understand that regionalism subnational governments with a relevant role
emerges from a ‘bottom-up approach in which in offering social services by earmarking taxes
key political and other actors from within the from the three levels of government for health
regions take greater control over their region’s and basic education.2 This decentralisation
political, social, cultural and economic affairs. favoured municipalities more than the states,
This may be done in collaboration with the and throughout the 1990s and 2000s, various
central state and does not necessarily risk the regulatory measures recentralised financial re-
break-up of the state itself’, as in Loughlin sources and authority within the sphere of the
(2013, p12). Union (Arretche, 2013; Souza, 2013). This re-
It may be stated that regionalisms are actions lates to the conflictual ‘layering’ process and
and attempts to mobilise political alliances institutional reorganisation which are critical
that are distinctly territorially demarcated. In to state rescaling, as mentioned by Brenner
crises and/or when facing a common adversary, (2009).
several regional groups seek to politicise and Within this context of conflictual changes in
constitute channels in order to voice their de- the balance of power between central and local
mands, thereby creating several social, cultural governments, Arretche and Schlegel (2014) ar-
and political arrangements. gued that the role of the states became weak-
Based on these key insights, it is our claim ened, in terms of having authority over their
that the new regionalism in North-east Brazil own policies and over decisions taken in na-
makes part of a political project led by PT, in an tional arenas on matters of regional interest.
alliance with other centre-left parties, seeking When considering constitutional norms, these
to create a space for joining forces so as to face authors demonstrated that, in Brazil, the au-
the open warfare policy of Bolsonaro, who thority of state governments is relatively strong
Page 4 of 19Creative strategies for spatial policy making in Brazilian ‘new left regionalism’
when compared to other countries in Latin entities, the FC/1998 established constitutional
America. However, this authority is of a more funds for the less developed regions (North/
limited nature when compared to the states FNO, North-east/FNE and Centre West/FCO),
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and provinces in the classic federations (US, leaving the federal government to formulate
Canada and Switzerland). By conducting a policies to reduce regional inequalities.
survey on the perception of citizens, Arretche According to an interview with Adroaldo
et al. (2016) also concluded that state governors Quintela (Secretary for Federative Affairs
play a supporting role in relation to the role of during the administrations of Lula da Silva),
the president. the federal government favoured and strength-
Moreover, in Brazil, the significant re- ened a direct relationship with the munici-
gional inequalities also pose challenges to palities through social programmes and the
territorial governance and to policy-making creation of new institutional instruments, such
(Figure 1). Because of this, the capacities of as the law on public consortia (sanctioned in
subnational governments are exceedingly un- 2005 and regulated in 2007). The pioneering
even, thereby implying the importance and consortia date back to the 1990s, although
centrality of the federal government in political after this law was regulated, experiences have
decision-making and policy-making. Although multiplied in Brazil. These were chiefly sectoral
the regions were not constituted as federative inter-municipal consortia (health, environment,
Figure 1. Brazil: Macro-regional Distribution of Population (2020) and GDP (2018), and Gini index of per capita household
income (2019). Source: Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
Page 5 of 19Siqueira and Brandão
etc.), as required by federal legislation, with a had formed a powerful ‘drought industry’
smaller number being regionally based. The (Bercovici, 2003; Ferretti, 2021; Furtado, 1961).
most well-known territorially-based experi- Nevertheless, political events in the na-
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ence of inter-municipal consortium in Brazil is tional context, of which SUDENE’s innova-
the consortium of the Greater ABC region in tive strategy made part, would lead to the 1964
the state of São Paulo. Allen J. Scott was one civil-military coup, and the original SUDENE
of the consultants for this experience on new model, within a regionalised federalism, was
regionalism (Scott, 2001). abruptly and brutally interrupted. In its place,
Consequently, in Brazil, the new regionalism a centralised, authoritarian planning practice
is localist and municipalist, and is generally emerged, in which intervenors occupied the
stimulated by the Union. On the other hand, posts of governors. During the military re-
the experience of the purported ‘modo petista gime, SUDENE became a mere administrative
de governar’ (the PT way of governing) in sev- agency, whose purpose was to pass on fiscal and
eral municipalities, most notably the Porto financial incentives to industrial projects.
Alegre administration and its iconic participa- In the 1980s, the external debt crisis and its
tory budget in the 1990s, did not upscale onto negative impacts on state funding resulted in
the state and federal tiers (Peck and Theodore, SUDENE, and other public institutions, losing
2015). At a state level, horizontal links were their resources. In the 1990s, the adoption of a
even scarcer and more sporadic (Abrucio and neoliberal strategy, ‘shrinking the state’ (Lobao
Sano, 2011), and the creation of interstate et al, 2018), by the Cardoso government,
consortia with a macro-regional base is very strongly mobilised the discourse of corruption
recent. Hence, the emergence of a new protag- and inefficiency so as to interrupt the activities
onist regionalism in the North-east represents of SUDENE in 2001. In the absence of a na-
an innovative attempt to build a meso- and tional strategy for regional development, the
macroregional bottom-up spatial scale, based on ‘fiscal war’ of state governors emerged (a ver-
an interstate institutional arrangement. Under itable auction of locations, nowadays emulated
the leadership of the PT state governments, this by the municipalities) that mobilised the dis-
initiative has promoted an intermediary space course of endogenous local development, using
of political concertation between the local and fiscal and financial incentives to attract invest-
national scales. ments, especially industrial developments.
It should be noted that, historically, also in In 2003, with the presidential election of
the North-east, there had already been an effort Lula da Silva, born in the North-eastern state of
to establish a regional level of decision-making, Pernambuco, the recreation of SUDENE was
although based on the initiative of central gov- announced in a highly symbolic ceremony, held
ernment. The SUDENE Deliberation Council in Fortaleza, with the presence of Celso Furtado
was an original innovation in Brazilian feder- (shortly before his death). Notwithstanding,
alism. Its objective had been to create direct this federal autarchy was neither reconfigured
links between central and state governments nor were its institutional capacities strength-
within the context of planning for regional de- ened in order to operate within the transform-
velopment. By attempting to submit the federal ations that took place in the North-east. Within
bodies that operated in the North-east to this the scope of public policies, as the following
new logic of regional planning, the intention sections will reveal, the role of this institution
was to interrupt the long cycle during which was not relevant for the regional policies of
these institutions had been commandeered and the PT national governments nor for the CNE
controlled by the regional oligarchies, which policies.
Page 6 of 19Creative strategies for spatial policy making in Brazilian ‘new left regionalism’
Spatial policy-making during the income Gini coefficient between 2003 and 2014
PT national governments and (from 0.583 to 0.5) (Institute for Research in
its impacts in the North-east Applied Economics/IPEADATA).
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(2003–2015) Along with implementing progressive fiscal
policies, policies with territorial targets were
After Cardoso’s policies of ‘shrinking the state’,
developed in Brazil. Likewise, advances were
the PT national administrations (2003–2015)
also made, most markedly in the more in-depth
resumed state intervention through a set of eco-
diagnosis of socio-spatial problems and in the
nomic measures, investment projects and social
policy-making process for national develop-
programmes. This brought extremely positive
ment strategies. To a certain extent, these were
effects, particularly for the very poorest, en-
aimed at overcoming the multi-sectoral frag-
suring socioeconomic and political changes
mentation, moving towards a geography of
within the North-east.
public policy and strategies orientated towards
The conjuncture of the supercycle of com-
social problems (Martin, 2001). For instance,
modities prices and policies to strengthen the
the National Policy for Regional Development
domestic market (continually increasing the
(PNDR), the Territories of Citizenship pro-
minimum wage, expanding consumer credit and
gramme (integrating social policies and sup-
housing credit programmes) resulted in both
porting family farming) and the National
economic growth and employment. Moreover,
Territorial Management Policy (PNOT),
there was also an expansion of public spending
amongst others, were formulated, with different
in the social areas (health, education, social se-
levels of implementation (OECD, 2013).
curity and social assistance), as provided for in
The practice of popular participation was
the FC/1988.
strengthened, and critical dialogue also took
Placed into perspective, Clifton et al. (2020)
place with the scientific communities. In the
demonstrated that between 2003 and 2014,
North-east, such policies evolved in a particu-
there was a significant reduction in income
larly significant manner. Along with economic
inequalities across Latin America as a whole,
measures, primarily the recurrent increase in
coinciding with the election of progressive gov-
the minimum wage, programmes aimed at the
ernments. These authors considered this to be
very poorest, such as Bolsa Família (PBF) [con-
a result of the economic growth supported by
ditional cash transfer], Luz para Todos [Light
the boom of commodities prices combined
for everyone], Água para Todos [Water for
with a new cycle of fiscal policies that had been
everyone] (The programmes One Million Rural
introduced across the region (increasing public
Cisterns and One Land—Two Waters) and
expenditure and revenue), shifting towards
the Programa Nacional de Fortalecimento da
a more redistributive approach. Although
Agricultura Familiar [The National Programme
Sánchez-Ancochea (2021) recognised the sta-
for Strengthening Family Agriculture]
bility of the share of the top 1%, he also ob-
PRONAF, were responsible for reducing in-
served the same trend of decrease in income
come inequalities, particularly the extreme
inequality, highlighting the role played by
poverty in rural areas (Campello, 2017).
public policies involving the formalisation of
Since much of the national poverty is con-
the labour market, the significant increases in
centrated in the North-east, half of the total
minimum wages and the positive impacts of so-
resources of the PBF were allocated to this
cial policy on low-income groups.
region. Currently, apart from the state of Rio
Although Brazil is still one of the most un-
Grande do Norte, more than 40% of families
equal countries in the world, there was a
in the other North-eastern states were enlisted
constant, significant decrease in the per capita
into this programme (Ministry of Citizenship).
Page 7 of 19Siqueira and Brandão
The improvement in the Municipal Human Borges argued about the interdependence be-
Development Index and a reduction in the per- tween national and state coalitions in poorer
centage of those suffering extreme poverty in states with low electoral competitiveness. He
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all North-eastern states (Table 1) exemplify the claimed that advances in the democratic elect-
socioeconomic results of these policies. oral process in Brazil have challenged the sta-
These policies ensured access to income, bility of the traditional territorial strategies
water, electricity and rights. To illustrate, all of political control by regional elites, which
interviewees emphasised the fact that although in turn have become strongly conditioned by
the North-east experienced severe droughts the national political game. Taking Bahia as a
throughout this period, there had been no dis- case study (a state that had been dominated
placements nor lootings, as had occurred in by one conservative political leader for around
the past. 20 years), the coalitions of the strategic national
The policies also resulted in political in- plan for Lula da Silva’s victory in 2002 and 2006
dependence from the clientelist practices of plus the adoption of social policies enabled, at a
traditional oligarchies and, thus, guaranteed state level, the coalitions led by PT.
votes for PT in both the national and regional For Souza (2015), the implementation of
elections. ‘centre-led pro-poor policies’ strongly con-
Analyses such as those by Borges (2007) and tributed to the demise of clientelist practices
Souza (2015) have helped to explain the elect- in Bahia. Such practices were challenged by
oral defeat of the long-standing political oli- competition from the federal government’s
garchies in favour of centre-left coalitions in universal coverage and clear-targeted social
the North-east. policies. The resources of these policies are
For Borges (2007), the state political ma- managed by the municipalities, and thus by-
chines dominated by traditional political chiefs pass the state governments. Souza argued that
were weakened by the confluence of political- poorer voters also ‘vote with their pockets’ and,
electoral factors and the context of decentral- with this, have changed the patterns of electoral
isation that favoured municipalities over the competition in the North-east.
states. From a political-electoral viewpoint, When interviewed, Luciana Santana (a pol-
itical scientist at the Federal University of
Alagoas) argued that, despite the differences
Table 1. Municipal Human Development Index (MDHI) between the states, the movement that de-
and Extreme Poverty (%), North-eastern states (2000–2017). feated the traditional elites in favour of the left
North-eastern states MHDI % Extreme and centre parties occurred across the region as
poverty a whole, with very few exceptions.
Table 2 presents the results for the executive
2000 2010 2017 2000 2010
in the 2002 to 2018 state elections. Bahia has
Alagoas 0.471 0.631 0.683 31.95 16.66 been governed by PT since 2006. In the state
Bahia 0.512 0.660 0.714 25.68 13.79 of Maranhão, another paradigmatic case of oli-
Ceará 0.541 0.682 0.735 28.11 14.69 garchic domination, this process took slightly
Maranhão 0.476 0.639 0.687 37.21 22.47
longer and occurred with the victory of Flavio
Paraíba 0.506 0.658 0.722 25.17 13.39
Pernambuco 0.544 0.673 0.727 22.30 12.32 Dino, in 2014.
Piauí 0.484 0.646 0.697 32.51 18.77 All interviewees emphasised the signifi-
Rio Grande do Norte 0.552 0.684 0.731 21.54 10.33 cance of the federal policies, as a whole, for
Sergipe 0.518 0.665 0.702 24.52 11.70 political-electoral changes in the region. Some
Source: Atlas of Human Development in Brazil (http:// of them considered that the dialogue be-
www.atlasbrasil.org.br/) tween the PT national governments and the
Page 8 of 19Creative strategies for spatial policy making in Brazilian ‘new left regionalism’
North-eastern governors was held on pro- Citizenship have innovated by integrating basic
posals of massive, strategic investment pro- federal government citizenship actions aimed
jects in water resources (mainly the Integration at farming families. Bahia has also been im-
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Project of the São Francisco River—PISF), the portant in the strategy to encourage consortia
Petrobras refineries, the installation of naval between municipalities.
shipyards and infrastructure within the scope These socioeconomic and political changes
of the Accelerated Growth Programme (PAC), have helped us to understand how the leading
launched during Lula da Silva’s second term role of a ‘new left regionalism’ has emerged in
in office (2007–2010). Monteiro Neto (techni- the North-east, after the 2018 elections.
cian at the Institute for Research in Applied Nonetheless, before analysing this process
Economics (IPEA), and a former Secretary of in the next section, it is important to men-
Science and Technology and Environment in tion that due to the contradictions of the PT
Pernambuco) also mentioned the importance governments (for example, maintaining neo-
of North-eastern politicians being nominated liberal macroeconomic policies), their social
for the presidency of Petrobras and as ministers reformism was weak and proved insufficient
of the Ministry of National Integration (MI; re- to overcome a historical pattern of structural
sponsible for the PISF). and structuring socioeconomic and regional
With regard to the rescaling of policy- inequalities.
making, respondents agreed that the federal Some scholars have examined the limitations
government’s commitment to building a direct of the national strategy in confronting regional
relationship with the municipalities was of inequalities. According to Monteiro Neto
the utmost importance, especially in the state (2015), despite the socioeconomic advances,
of Bahia, where PT has governed since 2006. the priority of policies with a ‘place-neutral’
Federal programmes such as the Territories of approach in the federal government’s agenda
Table 2. Electoral results of the state governors in the North-east, 2002–2018.
2002 2006 2010 2014 2018
Bahia Paulo Souto/PFL Jaques Wagner/PT Jaques Wagner/PT Rui Costa/PT Rui Costa/PT
Piauí Wellington Dias/PT Wellington Dias/ Wilson Martins/PSB Wellington Dias/PT Wellington Dias/PT
PT
Ceará Lúcio Alcântara/ Cid Gomes/PSB Cid Gomes/PSB Camilo Santana/ PT Camilo Santana/ PT
PSDB
Maranhão Zé Reinaldo/PFL Jackson Lago/PDT Roseana Sarney/ Flavio Dino/PCdoB Flavio Dino/PCdoB
PMDB
Rio Grande Vilma Faria/PSB Vilma Faria/PSB Rosalba Ciarlini/ Robison Faria/PSD Fátima Bezerra/PT
do Norte DEM
Pernambuco Jarbas Vasconcelos/ Eduardo Campos/ Eduardo Campos/ Paulo Câmara/PSB Paulo Câmara/PSB
PMDB PSB PSB
Paraíba Cássio Cunha Lima/ Cássio Cunha Ricardo Coutinho/ Ricardo Coutinho/ João Azevedo/PSB
PSDB Lima/PSDB PSB PSB
Alagoas Ronaldo Lessa/PSB Teotonio Vilela Teotonio Vilela Renan Calheiros Renan Calheiros
Filho/PSDB Filho/PSDB Filho/PMDB Filho/PMDB
Sergipe João Alves/PFL Marcelo Deda/PT Marcelo Deda/PT Jackson Barreto/ Belivaldo Chagas
PMDB Filho/PSD
Source: TSE. The Superior Electoral Court (https://www.tse.jus.br/)
Page 9 of 19Siqueira and Brandão
was not linked to ‘place-based policies’ (Barca 2019, 2020), the cycle of innovations in public
et al., 2012) and their classical instruments and policies, marked by the fight against inequal-
institutions. ities and economic poverty, was interrupted. In
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Consequently, for Tania Bacelar (one of the the very short term, a new conjuncture of eco-
main specialists on North-east regional devel- nomic and political crises began, which made
opment, a former economist at SUDENE and a it possible to introduce draconian measures of
past National Secretary for Regional Policies at fiscal austerity, sent President Lula da Silva to
the MI during Lula da Silva’s first term) the low prison, the main competitor in the presidential
priority given to regional productive transform- race, and paved the way for Bolsonaro’s victory
ation was also evidenced by the appointment in the 2018 presidential elections.
of politicians from the allied base rather than However, in the North-east, Bolsonaro lost
from PT to the MI (responsible for the PNDR, to the PT candidate, Fernando Haddad, who
to which SUDENE is institutionally linked). obtained around 70% of the North-eastern
Therefore, actions aimed at water infrastruc- votes (TSE), and in almost all the North-eastern
ture, primarily the PISF (not linked to PNDR), states, left-leaning governors were elected,
continued to be the most relevant within the most of whom were being re-elected for a
scope of this ministry. The PNDR, despite its second term (Table 2 in the previous section).
advances along the lines of EU regional policy, Following the election results, the president’s
faced significant political obstacles due to the antagonistic, threatening stance towards the
complexity of its multi-level governance and its North-eastern leftist governors intensified in a
failure to create a national fund to finance re- conjunction of pandemic and various simultan-
gional development. eous crises, and became the driving force be-
These discussions help to explain the irrele- hind the strategies of cooperation through the
vant role of SUDENE (responsible for handling creation of the CNE.
FNE resources in investment projects across In this section, we discuss the politics of this
the region), despite its re-creation in 2003. initiative, along with the potentialities and con-
It should be added that, according to an inter- straints of its actions. The analysis is based on
view with Monteiro Neto, in the context of eco- information published in the press, collected
nomic expansion and politically broad coalition through the institutional documents on the CNE
governments, the ‘gains’ of the poorer regions website (http://www.consorcionordeste-ne.com.
were not seen as ‘losses’ by the richer regions. br/), and interviews conducted with: Maria
Despite these limitations, the North-east has Fernanda Coelho (CNE Programme
been a space for political experimentation and Subsecretary and former president of the
policies which, in turn, has been important for Caixa Econômica Federal, the public bank re-
this region in experiencing a type of politics sponsible for managing the resources for social
that configured a new left regionalism, as dis- programmes, such as PBF), Paulo Cavalcanti
cussed in the following section. (coordinator of the ICT North-east Network
and professor at the Federal University of
Paraíba) and, lastly, Tania Bacelar, Adroaldo
The ‘new left regionalism’ and the Quintela and Luciana Santana, mentioned in
North-east Consortium the previous sections.
With changes taking place in the international As we have argued, a new left regionalism
economic context and the formation of polit- and a (re)politicisation of the regional space
ical alliances that led to the judicial-media- have promoted a bottom-up process of state
parliamentary coup and to the impeachment rescaling in the North-east. Therefore, the
of President Dilma Roussef in 2016 (Singer, questions raised by Brenner (2009, p136) are
Page 10 of 19Creative strategies for spatial policy making in Brazilian ‘new left regionalism’
pertinent to this section: ‘What social forces rotation basis. In 2020, the acting president was
and political-territorial alliances underpin pro- Rui Costa (PT), the Governor of the State of
cesses of state rescaling? Can social forces and Bahia, followed by Governor Wellington Dias,
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political-territorial alliances block, bend or re- in 2021. The Executive Secretary is chaired
direct the trajectory of state rescaling?’ by Carlos Gabas (a former Minister of Social
The circumstance of clearly recognising a Security during the governments of Lula da
common political opponent demanded the ur- Silva and Dilma Roussef), who, in turn, also
gent articulation of political forces amongst the chairs the Administrative Council. The council
North-eastern governors. Throughout all the members are made up of the state secretaries
interviews, this was considered to be the most of planning, economic development, infrastruc-
relevant fact in deciding to create the CNE, ture, international relations and the superin-
which evolved from a meeting at the Forum of tendent of territorial strategies. There is also a
North-eastern Governors, in 2019. With his dis- structure with five Programme Subsecretaries,
missive, hostile, authoritarian attitude towards among whom, a prominent role is played by
the pandemic, Bolsonaro has constantly pol- Maria Fernanda Coelho. Lastly, there is also a
iticised the issue and has stood in permanent Legal Advisory Office linked to the Forum of
confrontation with the state governors, thereby North-eastern Attorney Generals. The main
providing no form of leadership and no con- decisions of this governance structure are sub-
sistent national coordination of actions to con- mitted to the General Assembly, held on a
tain the spread of the virus or to immunise the monthly basis.
population. In one of the first normative acts of the
The cohesion of these governors has been CNE, Celso Furtado was declared patron of
created politically and symbolically, through a the consortium. The then president of the CNE,
scalar narrative and discourse, which has mobil- Governor Rui Costa, justified the decision to the
ised the identity of a modern, dynamic North- press by referring to the influence of Furtado’s
east with common physical-environmental and thinking in forming the consortium, as well as
cultural characteristics, endowed with high re- his struggle for the economic, social and polit-
silience, while still, however, facing enormous ical transformation of the Brazilian North-east.
economic and social challenges. In his discourse, Unquestionably, the innovative, acclaimed ex-
Wellington Dias (the PT State Governor of perience of the SUDENE Deliberation Council
Piauí and current president of the CNE and was being revisited. It should be noted that, in
the National Forum of State Governors) stated his intellectual and political trajectory, Furtado
that he would reach out to seek dialogue and always advocated the need for regional plan-
not confrontation with the president since he ning, and was aware of the specificities of the
was aware of the importance of central gov- three levels of the Brazilian federation and
ernment within the Brazilian federation. The the need for governmental action in a linked,
motto of the CNE is ‘A United Brazil Growing cooperative manner.
Together’. Although very recent, the CNE has already
By examining institutional documents (stat- demonstrated that this initiative possesses
utes, state laws, assembly minutes and other great potential for helping to de-fragment and
normative acts), it may be observed that the de-compartmentalise public actions, and to
decision-making structure of the CNE is provide structured, regionalised operational
complex. Its highest deliberative body is its coherence. It has enabled experimentation
General Assembly, composed of governors with new practices and exercising intergovern-
from each of the North-eastern states, one mental agreements and cooperation in macro,
of whom serves as its president on an annual micro and sub-regional spaces.
Page 11 of 19Siqueira and Brandão
The joint actions have already demonstrated main projects attracted to the region in the
positive results, especially in reducing the costs 1990s through state tax exemption.
of public procurement, which has strength- With regard to the role of SUDENE within
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ened the bargaining power in the acquisition this political conjuncture, according to all those
of goods and services. This has been crucial for interviewed, despite having formulated the
the joint purchase of medical supplies without Regional Development Plan for the North-east
needing to depend exclusively on Ministry of (PDRNE), there has been no dialogue between
Health procurement. this agency and the CNE. The stipulation made
According to Coelho, the ‘great mission’ of for SUDENE to formulate a regional develop-
the CNE has been to articulate governance ment plan was issued by the Federal Court of
pacts and regional integration projects for the Accounts (TCU). For Bacelar, the reason for
North-east, through its socio-environmental, this lack of articulation was probably because
economic and cultural potentialities. Therefore, SUDENE is a federal agency subordinate to
at the beginning of 2021, several thematic cham- the Ministry of Regional Development (the
bers were created (family farming, social assist- former MI), whose current minister is a polit-
ance, environment, health, public management, ical ally of Bolsonaro.
technological innovation, public and private ar- Coelho regrets the lack of articulation with
rangements, public safety, education, energies SUDENE but recognises that the PDRNE
and tourism) with the aim of enabling dialogue influenced the discussion in the CNE on im-
and links between the state secretariats and portant proposals for financing public policies,
the setting up of integrating projects. The CNE such as the Investment Platform. This is aimed
president, Wellington Dias, also stated the ob- at improving the ability to formulate and im-
jective of sharing the successful policies from plement structural and integrated projects,
each state through these channels. For instance, mobilising resources and financial innovations,
based on the successful experience of the Ceará constituting investment funds, formatting guar-
Digital Belt, the CNE intends to expand this antees, issuing bonds and training technical
high-tech infrastructure throughout the entire staff in the North-eastern states and city halls
North-east, enabling public broadband services for such actions.
and high-speed internet. The COVID-19 outbreak enhanced the
One important action front for the CNE has need for shared and creative policies (Pessoa
been to create alternatives against the fiscal et al., 2020). The Scientific Committee of
war between states. For Bacelar, on being the North-east Consortium for Combating
confronted with the difficulties imposed by Coronavirus (C4NE) was created in 2020 to
Bolsonaro, the North-eastern governors soon assist the CNE and the North-eastern muni-
realised there was a need to abandon the fiscal cipalities in organising policies to tackle the
war strategy and create linking mechanisms. pandemic. For Coelho, with the creation of the
Similarly, Coelho claimed that one of the main C4NE, the North-eastern governors, ‘repelled’
advances of the CNE has been to promote a by Bolsonaro, have publicly stood up to the
new ‘political environment’ for discussion on president’s denialism, as well as his dismissive,
regional policies. chaotic response to the pandemic, thereby rec-
This is a significant point, particularly when ognising the urgency of the crisis and the im-
considering not only the federal efforts over portance of science.
recent decades to weaken the state’s power, Initially, this strategy was under the leader-
but also the recent announcement by Ford re- ship of the renowned neuroscientist Miguel
garding its plant closures (in the states of Bahia Nicolelis and the physicist Sérgio Rezende (a
and Ceará), which had represented one of the former Minister of Science and Technology
Page 12 of 19Creative strategies for spatial policy making in Brazilian ‘new left regionalism’
during the Lula da Silva governments), who through discussions organised by sub-groups
now presides over the C4NE. (from mathematical modelling to public pol-
According to its website (https://www. icies for economic development, health and
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comitecientifico-ne.com.br), the objectives of education).
C4NE are to develop strategies for the preven- Cavalcanti highlighted the importance of
tion and control of the spread of the disease. creating numerous universities and federal in-
Amongst the current major ongoing actions stitutes and promoting science and technology
are: collecting and integrating data through the during the PT national governments in order
creation of a sophisticated information system to expand the supply of researchers across
(Monitora COVID-19); developing, adapting the region. For Coelho and Bacelar, this was
and validating protocols, assistance, therapeutic also one of the most important changes in the
and epidemiological studies and procedures. North-east in recent decades, particularly in the
Within the scope of the C4NE, Miguel hinterland, and contributed to the potential of
Nicolelis conceived the strategy adopted by the the regional project that the CNE represents.
CNE to form the Emergency Health Brigade Cavalcanti explained that these articulations
of the North-east to expand the contingent of within the scope of the C4NE gave rise to the
health professionals available in the macro- proposal of the ICT North-east Network (cre-
region, especially in the hinterland cities. This ated in September 2020), bringing together the
occurred through identifying the ‘boomerang research and public policy efforts of 24 higher
effect’ of COVID-19 within the territory. In education institutions (including federal uni-
other words, the virus arrived in the coastal versities and institutes and state universities)
metropolises by international air traffic and and research centres located in the North-
spread to the hinterland cities along the high- east. Members of the network presented the
ways, which was then followed by a return to ‘Manifesto of Science for Life’, which consists
the metropolises, due to the greater availability of a charter of propositional principles and,
of hospital equipment. This initiative has filled simultaneously, a counterpoint to the policies
the significant gap left by the changes made by and anti-science, denialist rhetoric of the fed-
the Bolsonaro government to the programme eral government.
called Mais Médicos [More Doctors], which Other networks were also created in the
were aimed at expelling Cuban doctors for areas of food and nutrition security (the Josué
ideological reasons. This programme had ori- de Castro Network) and of education (the
ginally been created by the Dilma Roussef Paulo Freire Network), both named in honour
government in 2013 to cover the shortage of of two great Brazilian and North-eastern public
doctors in the country’s hinterland and was cru- intellectuals.
cial in dealing with the lack of doctors in the For Cavalcanti, Santana, Bacelar and Coelho,
North-east. these initiatives provide important scientific
In an interview with Paulo Cavalcanti, he support to the CNE and have already begun
reported that this initiative generated great to promote advances, such as innovations in
‘euphoria in academic circles’ across the re- the area of hospital equipment with, for ex-
gion, and the idea of expanding the C4NE dis- ample, the creation of the Elmo ventilator (a
cussions to other collaborative networks gave non-invasive ventilation helmet) by the Federal
rise to the Mandacaru Project,3 an ‘informal University of Ceará, which is already in use in
spin-off’ from this committee. This is a virtual public hospitals.
articulation between volunteer experts from Although the conjuncture of crises and pan-
various areas of knowledge, whose function has demic is extremely serious and uncertain, it
been to suggest proposals to fight the pandemic is assessed that, in relation to other Brazilian
Page 13 of 19Siqueira and Brandão
regions, the support of the C4NE has resulted reports, for example, the difficulty of accessing
in adopting stricter measures against the spread resources and donations to the North-east from
of the virus and more effective communica- multilateral agencies such as the IDB due to
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tion. This may be gauged from the fact that, to the Ministry of Economy stalling over formal
date, the North-east has the country’s lowest procedures.
COVID-19 mortality rate (Ranzani et al., 2021). Accordingly, the North-eastern governors
This is a noteworthy indicator since it was ex- have been attempting to bypass the national
pected that the devastation of the pandemic scale by seeking more direct support from
would be even greater in this region, given the abroad. In 2019, an official visit to Europe was
socioeconomic inequalities. undertaken, presenting a map of potential in-
From Cavalcanti’s point of view, the for- vestments in the North-east. In clear confronta-
mation of a new ‘political actor’ in the region tion with the president’s anti-environmentalism,
based on these C4NE articulations is also rele- they had previously sent a joint statement to the
vant, proffering political legitimacy to the ac- leaders of the Climate Summit, in which they re-
tions of the CNE and public policies in general. affirmed the principles of the Paris Agreement,
Nevertheless, certain details of his report ap- expressed their respect for the agreements and
pear to be important in order to understand the conventions related to biodiversity and climate
political confrontations faced by the CNE. One signed by Brazil, and declared the North-east’s
initial fact is that Cavalcanti is not officially the commitment to environmental protection and
coordinator of the ICT North-east Network, sustainable development.
since he is linked to a federal university where Given the shortage of vaccines and the
the current rector was appointed by Bolsonaro, Ministry of Health’s refusal to sign a contract
and thereby disrespects the voting rights of its with Pfizer on several occasions during 2020,
academic community (as has taken place in the CNE made an agreement with Russia
other federal universities). Because of this, the for the purchase of the Sputnik V vaccine.
participation of his university in this network Nonetheless, the Brazilian Health Surveillance
has yet to become official. Agency (ANVISA) denied approval for emer-
Another critical point, which was also re- gency use of this vaccine, thereby generating
ported by Santana, concerns the greater polit- controversy on the subject. In June 2021 the
ical impact of the C4NE’s actions between the vaccine was approved with restrictions that, in
beginning of the pandemic and the municipal practice, prevented a mass immunisation cam-
elections (in November 2020). From this point paign with this vaccine.
onwards, there was fierce opposition from eco- In the context of the ‘post-truth autocratic
nomic interests and the electoral result was post-democracy conjuncture’ (as termed by
unfavourable to the forces of the left. In add- Swyngedouw, 2019), the president’s strategy
ition to the economic impacts of the restric- has been to place the onus onto the governors
tion measures, the opposition also sought to to adopt measures to restrict movement and
capitalise on exploiting the errors surrounding for the economic and social crisis and, thereby,
the CNE’s procurement of respirators in the maintain the support of entrepreneurs, since he
troubled beginnings of the pandemic. is seeking re-election. Hence, he employs tac-
In more general terms, it is possible to map tics such as filing suits in the Federal Supreme
out constraints on the CNE due to the op- Court (STF) against the governors, and ques-
position of the federal government, which has tions their competence with their imposed
materialised through the lack of dialogue and measures to restrict movement and to control
support from federal development institutions the spread of COVID-19. In the North-east, to-
and bodies, some located in the region. Coelho gether with his political allies, he takes part in
Page 14 of 19Creative strategies for spatial policy making in Brazilian ‘new left regionalism’
events to inaugurate federal undertakings that The objective of this is to politically exploit the
had already been inaugurated by Lula da Silva error of the CNE regarding the aforementioned
and Dilma Roussef, without the presence of purchase of ventilators. Notwithstanding, this re-
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any of the governors. quest was denied and has been viewed as an im-
Similarly, the composition of the national con- portant victory for the CNE.
gress, predominantly conservative, is also con- In sum, the sustainability of policies con-
sidered to be unfavourable to the North-east. ducted by the CNE is an open-ended question.
The leader of the government in the Senate, Significant constraints and challenges will have
Fernando Bezerra (from Pernambuco), is a rep- to be faced up to, such as the effects of the se-
resentative of the new oligarchy of the North- vere economic and social crises; the harsh fiscal
east. According to all the interviewees, with the austerity measures and the dismantling of public
election of evangelical religious leaders, mem- policies pursued by the federal government;
bers of the military and conservative youtubers overcoming disputes such as the ‘fiscal war’;
(overwhelmingly ‘bolsonaristas’) in the 2018 broadening the dialogue between C4NE and the
election, the composition of the chamber is decision-making bodies of SUS and other insti-
currently considered even more unfavourable. tutions; expanding social participation; and con-
Moreover, for Santana, proposals are being put tinuing the politicisation of the regional space in
forward by state deputies across the region to the light of the approaching 2022 elections. Since
establish a Parliamentary Inquiry Commission six of these nine governors have already been
(CPI) to investigate the actions of the CNE. re-elected, they will now need to elect succes-
Meanwhile, other confrontations are also sors since, under Brazilian law, it is not possible
underway in the COVID-19 CPI of the Federal to run for two consecutive elections.
Senate, installed in April 2021, by determination In spite of this, the CNE has been an innova-
of the STF, in order to assess the president’s mis- tive experience, promoting re-politicisation,
handling of the pandemic. This commission is constituting new political arenas and actors
made up mainly by opposition senators, most with great potential, and has already presented
notably Senator Renan Calheiros from Alagoas, highly relevant results. It has benefited from
father of the current governor of that state. From the critical downscaling of an experienced bur-
the results of this CPI thus far released, it has eaucracy resulting from the national PT gov-
become clear that the president’s strategy was to ernments. Paradoxically, the very same PT that
allow the virus to spread (including encouraging was responsible for strengthening the munici-
public gatherings at events in which he partici- palities to the detriment of the states and that
pated and promoting medications with no sci- now seeks to build a new regionalism based on
entifically proven efficacy) in order to obtain a interstate articulation.
supposed herd immunity, at the expense of hun- Furthermore, Lula da Silva has been exon-
dreds of thousands of lives. erated from the charges brought against him
At the time of writing, there have been some because the STF considered that the judge re-
new developments from this CPI, with revela- sponsible for his prosecution had not acted im-
tions of corruption surrounding the purchase of partially. Lula da Silva is therefore back on the
COVID-19 vaccines during the administration political scene and campaigning for the next
of former Health Minister, Eduardo Pazuello federal elections in 2022.
(a general in the Brazilian army).
In order to shift the focus away from the presi-
dent, some CPI members, allies of the president,
Conclusions
have been imposing pressure to summon Gabas, Long after redemocratisation in Brazil, the
the Executive Secretary of the CNE, to the inquiry. policies of the PT governments ultimately had
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