Um governo dentro do governo: a articulação político-empresarial da organização da sociedade civil Comunitas e o caso da parceria com o município de Pelotas (RS).

Abstract

The objective of this master thesis is to analyze the articulation of brazilian economic elite in a Civil Society Organization of Public Interest (OSCIP), named Comunitas, seeking to understand its role within a government. The hypothesis that guides the research is that this association acts as a political institution. Comunitas has its origin in a government program called Comunidade Solidária, during the Fernando Henrique Cardoso (FHC) presidential term (1995-2003) in Brazil. After his mandate, the program is transformed in a private association whose objective is to improve corporate social investment, a practice that is taken as a synonym for strategic philanthropy in this research. Financed by the high level of brazilian business community, this entity celebrates partnerships with states and municipalities, including the city of Pelotas (RS), since 2013. The master thesis verified that Comunitas’ practices results from the reconfiguration of society and State relations, especially in FHC presidential term, under the framework of managerialist State Reform. The practices of the entity can be seen as the materialization of a model in wich market-related sectors are invited to have greater weight in public administration. Comunitas’ actions, in the master thesis, are exemplified through the partnership with the city of Pelotas. Examining this case, it posible to see how large is the domain of agency of the organization over the Executive Branch, since it is responsible for the formulation and application of public policies, constituiting itself as an important agent in the government's political agenda. For this reason, the idea of “government within government” is formulated, signalizing that economic elites, without being elected and through Comunitas, share the government with the Executive Branch, where they insert their own definitions of public interest. The research also indicates that the phenomenon of corporate philanthropy is consolidated through a worldwide network, whose strengthening is related to a decrease in popular sovereignty over public decisions. It thus constitutes a way of converting economic power into political power, process that is characteristic of neoliberal societies. We also conclude that the relationship between private philanthropy and politics needs to be more regulated and deserve to gain a broader research agenda in the field of political science in Brazil.