State counter-reform and dispute over the public fund: reflections in contemporary Brazil

Abstract

Capitalism, in its incessant search for profit, tends to permanently generate crises.
Historically, the state has been a determining actor to act with a view to recovering capital
accumulation. From the crisis that began in the mid-1960s, the state, mainly through
public debt, gained centrality in strategies to combat the crisis. The answers commonly
fall on the retraction of investments in social policies. In Brazil, submission to neoliberal
policy since the 1990s has resulted in fiscal adjustment that required a series of counterreforms
in social policies, especially social security. The qualitative documentary-based
research undertaken found that the dispute over public funds in Brazil has meant an
expanded process of allocating resources to public debt to the detriment of investment in
health, education, social assistance, and social security.