The small municipalities of Brazil – an analysis based on management indices

Abstract

Brazil is a federative state, comprised of the Union (to which sovereignty belongs) and federal entities (states and municipalities), all autonomous but interdependent at the same time, each with their own competencies, responsibilities and revenues, along with shared political power. Since the foundation of Vila de São Vicente, in 1532, there have been successive periods of greater political decentralization, and others of greater centralization. Generally speaking, the most democratic periods are characterized by greater political, institutional and fiscal decentralization, which have promoted broader territorial fragmentation, through the creation of new municipalities, always smaller than the municipalities of origin. On the other hand, the most dictatorial and authoritarian periods, due to their centralized characteristics, usually tend to slowdown the creation of new municipalities. Small or larger, the municipalities have important responsibilities to fulfill within their roles of promoting quality of life and the happiness of their citizens. Thus, what is the best strategy for achieving this idea, in view of their sizes? This paper is aimed at answering that question, from the collection of recent managerial performance indicators of Brazilian cities. For this, it refers to managerial evaluation studies of Brazilian cities performed by institutions, especially the National Municipality Confederation - CNM, and briefly, the Rio de Janeiro State Industry Federation - FIRJAN. The results evidence that the best managerial indexes are in small Brazilian cities, therefore confirming that the strategy to decentralize the public administration for the small cities is highly positive and beneficial to improve the quality of life indexes and the development of a country of vast territorial extensions, such as Brazil.