Celso Furtado e a construção de um Federalismo Cooperativo no Brasil

Abstract

The centenary of Celso Furtado’s birth (1920-2020), one of the most important interpreters of the Brazilian modernization process in the 20th century, has raised several debates. This article approaches his political ideas from 1945 to 1964, especially reflections on the problem of cooperation between the Union and the states, directed to reducing regional inequalities in democratic contexts. His contributions favored the advance of cooperative federalism, and had greater prestige in the Juscelino Kubitschek’s government, when Furtado coordinated the GTDN and took over SUDENE – an intermediary instance between the Union and the Northeastern states. In an innovative perspective, different from the North American federalist model, the intervention of the federal government and its regional institutions gain relevance in the construction of nationality and of a more egalitarian democratic order. In addition to it, SUDENE would promote another standard of public management in the Northeast, directing federal public resources according to technical criteria, and therefore strengthening regional cohesion.