Bolsa Famíliaand democracy in Brazil

Abstract

The conditional cash transfer (CCT) programme Bolsa Família (Family Allowance), introduced in Brazil in 2003, is one of the largest such programmes in the world. Bolsa Família has played a role in the recent reduction of poverty and income inequality in Brazil. But what has been its impact on democracy? An assumption in the literature on social policy, derived from the European experience, is that targeted programmes such as Bolsa Família divide citizens, erode trust between citizens and between citizens and the state, and weaken democracy. This article challenges that assumption, showing that there is considerable evidence that Bolsa Família has strengthened the citizenship rights of the poor and enhanced democracy. The Brazilian experience suggests that, in highly unequal developing countries under conditions of 21st-century capitalism, the argument that targeted social programmes will inevitably undermine democracy is incorrect. Keywords: Brazil; democracy; citizenship; poverty; inequality; social policy; CCTs IntroductionThe Programa Bolsa Família (PBF) is one of the largest conditional cash transfer programmes in the world. The result of a fusion and expansion of existing programmes and begun in 2003 in the first year of the presidency of Luíz Inácio 'Lula' da Silva (2003-10), PBF now includes 13.8 million families comprising 49.6 million people, or 26% of Brazil's population. The programme reaches beneficiaries in 99.7% of the 5570 counties (municípios) of Brazil.

Social Movement Consolidation and Strategic Shifts: The Brazilian Landless Movement during the Lula and Dilma Administrations

“…Since 2002, approximately 40 million people have become middle class and 35 million people have been lifted out of extreme poverty. Social programs such as the Bolsa Familia (Family Fund) have been credited with removing extreme poverty from the Brazilian landscape (Pereira, 2015). While benefiting economically marginalized populations, these changes had less than positive effects on the Landless Movement.…”

Improving Treatment Outcomes for Leprosy in Pernambuco, Brazil: A Qualitative Study Exploring the Experiences and Perceptions of Retreatment Patients and their Carers

“…This results in a vicious cycle, of increasing dependency and consequent nancial instability [96][97][98][99][100][101]. While Brazil's 'Bolsa Familia' conditional cash transfer programme aims to protect households from this vicious cycle, [102,103] it is perhaps inadequate as income replacement; because while several participants alluded to their household nancial insecurity, only one participant felt supported by this measure. Participants with aspiring careers, and infected children, were not immune to this negative socioeconomic vicious cycle; as the stigma present in Pernambuco's occupational and educational settings, alongside job shortages and local poverty [18,49], impacted pursuing vocational education and training.…”

Brazília korunk világrendszerében

“…2004-ben négy program összevonásával és a juttatások kiterjesztésével indult a "Bolsa Familia" ("családi táska") elnevezésű program (átlagosan havi 70 BRL iskoláztatáshoz, egészségügyi kontrollhoz kötött készpénzsegélyt nyújtva egy-egy gyermekes családnak), ami Lula után is évről évre bővült, és 2014-ben már 14 millió családhoz, körülbelül 50 millió emberhez (a brazil lakosság 26 százalékához, a 2,5 USD/napi jövedelem alatt élő brazilok közel 70 százalékához) jutott el. Költségvetése 2015-ben 27,1 milliárd BRL-t (7,4 milliárd USD-t) tett ki, ami a GDP 0,5 százalékával ért fel (Pereira [2015]). A szociális transzferprogramok keretösszegét még a 2015-ben szükségessé váló költségvetési megszorítások sem érintették.…”