The attack on management councils as a de-democratization strategy in the Bolsonaro administration

Abstract

This article discusses the process of de-democratization in Brazil based on the active
dismantling brought about by the drafting of Decree no. 9,759 of April 2019 during the
Jair Bolsonaro’s presidency, which acted on the federal public administration collegiate
bodies. The research was carried out based on document analysis and bibliographic
review. The results indicate that the dismantling resulting from this measure worked
selectively within the protection network, having a greater impact on the councils
of social areas that were involved in a programmatic clash with the government. In
addition to making the functioning of the councils that were established after the 1988
Constitution precarious, the attack on civil society representations increased the level of
de-democratization in the country, ratifying the authoritarian and reactionary profile of
government management.