Apocalipse não: o estado do bem-estar social sobrevive à onda neoliberal.

Abstract

The object of this thesis is the relation between the State and citizenship rights, specially the social rights and the correspondent social policies that are known as the welfare state. The analysis is concentrated on the impact of neoliberal proposals on the organisation and functioning of the welfare state, with an overview of the Brazilian situation. The main objective of the study is to demonstrate that the pressures based on neoliberal ideology and policies had little impact on the welfare state and that the main reason for this is based on the very history of the welfare state, which corresponds itself to a long process of transformation of the relations that exists between the State and the society. The thesis argues that the strengthening and diversification of the social rights have lead to a transformation of the State and the development of complex relations at the political level, that makes social policies and institutions very resistant to changes directed to the diminishing of social benefits and to replace state actions and policies by market mechanisms in the organisation, financing and deliverance of social services. This thesis supports in addition the idea that the degree of complexity achieved by the Brazilian society and its welfare state demand the use of analytic approaches different than those that predominate in present studies that tend to generalisations such as periphery and Latin-American reality which are insufficient and simplify the debate about the nature, the ways and the reach of social policy in Brazil.