New State: the end of regional policies?

Abstract

Brazilian republican history is generally divided between before and after Vargas Era, landmark of the end of the “archaic Brazil”, ruled by traditional oligarchies regionally based, and the “modern Brazil”, characterized by the adoption of universal social proceedings and ideals of political order and national unity. Nevertheless, this paper aims to demonstrate that Brazil should rather be considered as a synchretic society, like defined by Edson Nunes. It means that archaism and modernity constantly interacted with each other, even though Vargas’ government intended to put into operation some reforms to establish the universality of political-administrative procedures. During this time, the autonomy of regional politics was in fact restricted, but new channels of influence in federal government allowed traditional oligarchies to keep power in their political supporting basis.