Party ideologies and application of the public fund: a study of the municipalities of the Região Funcional 7/RS/Brasil

PARTY IDEOLOGIES AND PUBLIC FUND APPLICATION: A STUDY OF MUNICIPALITIES IN FUNCTIONAL REGION 7/RS/BRAZIL

Abstract

This article discusses the relationship between party ideologies and the application of public funds in social policies. It seeks to assist in understanding the processes of application of the public fund available to municipalities based on the decentralization policies of the State. It analyzes possible correlations between the political options of the heads of municipal executives, the allocation of resources from the public budget to social policies and indicators of development of municipalities. It has as reference the dialectical approach, working with secondary data obtained from the Secretaria do Tesouro Nacional,  Tribunal Superior Eleitoral and Fundação de Economia e Estatística do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul. It works with the 77 municipalities of Região Funcional 7, the Conselhos Regionais de Desenvolvimento (COREDES/RS), from 2005 to 2016. It is observed that there is a predominance of right-wing parties in municipal administrations; the left-wing parties expanded their presence; the centre parties are the ones that apply the least in social policies; the variable party option of the holders of executive mandate is more intense in areas where there is greater freedom in the application of resources, or that are more dependent on articulation with other spheres of the federation to obtain resources, such as housing, urbanism, basic sanitation and culture; there are clear correlations between the expansion of the values applied in social policies and the improvement of development indicators, which are found in a strong positive way for 56 municipalities; moderate positive in 12; weak positive in 3; weak negative in 4; and moderate negative in 2 municipalities.