The politics of education funding in Brazil, 1964-1984.

de Mattos, Pedro Lincoln C L (1988) The politics of education funding in Brazil, 1964-1984. PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.

Preview

PDF Download (16MB) | Preview

Abstract

This thesis lies in the field of public policy and its purpose is to interpret the decision-making process of education funding by the Brazilian federal government during the period 1964-84. The descriptive approach is meant to leave room for original information on a recent aspect of the educational issue in Brazil. THE MAIN ARGUMENT. As from the mid-fifties the impetus of the country's industrial economy raised the standard of development as the leit motiv of policy-making. Traditional, liberal views of public responsibilities in education services on the grounds of humanistic and democratic values were increasingly replaced by considerations of education as an investment for economic development. The economic approach to education was to be central to the decisions on finance allocation to education and implied a preliminary attention to the rationalization of education administration. The 1964 authoritarian regime implemented this policy by concentrating the decision-making process in the bureaucracy, since the nature of education funding was seen as a technical matter. THE CONTENTS. The thesis scans some aspects of the federal bureaucracy's historical background on which the policy stepped (and eventually stumbled) and the origins of policies on education funding. Two crucial elements of the decision-making process are then investigated: the stance of the military towards education and the reflexion of the expansion and crisis of the Brazilian economy on the provision of tax finance to education. At its height, the research goes into several vital decisions for the education funding to find out how they were actually made and on which reasons they were based, whether giving or denying education a special budgetary treatment. Finally, a look at the poor results of planning and rationalization in relevant points of the policies unveils the importance of some cultural and social components of the organizations involved. THE CONCLUSIONS. The thesis concludes that, as far as Brazilian experience suggests, the economic Justification for funding education and rationalizing its spending is fragile and of little effect, since the allocation of public resources proves to be a political not a technical process. The cause loses rather than gains as the decisions are entrusted to economic bodies.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Sociology, Public and Social Welfare, Education, Finance, Latin American Studies
Sets:	Collections > ProQuest Etheses Departments > Government
URI:	http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/2580

Actions (login required)

Record administration - authorised staff only