About Brazil: Political Structure

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Brazil is a federation composed of 26 states and the Federal District where the capital city (Brasília) is located. The municipalities weren’t autonomous political units until November 1988, when the Democratic Constitution entered into force.

In the early decades after the independence declared in September 1822, differently from the South American nations that arose as republics, Brazil was a monarchy led by the heir of the Portuguese crown. At this time, it was a unitarian state. The former provinces only had administrative competences but did not hold autonomous powers.

The economic crisis aggravated by the end of the slave regime paved the way to the ascension of the Republic in 1889. The republican constitution, inspired by the North-American model, adopted the federalism and the conventional long form name United States of Brazil (Estados Unidos do Brasil), used until 1967, when the official country name became Federative Republic of Brazil (República Federativa do Brasil). The “provinces” were called “states” from that time on.

Besides these significant changes, the new Brazilian states did not really conquer political autonomy. The fear of secessionism and territorial fragmentation similar to the destiny of the former Spanish colonies, typical of the monarchic period, remained in the republican stage. Gradually, the central government took powers from the local governments. Although every federated state has its own Constitution approved by the local assembly and a governor, they can’t legislate about issues such as crimes, civil law, labor, elections, commerce and trade or land ownership without previous consent of the National Congress. Law students in Brazil don't use to study so many state statutes because there is a clear prominence of the federal laws. Tax and customs, environment, customer rights, urban planning are one of the main subjects regulated by federate state norms. Indeed, dealing with 26 different tax state systems can be somewhat complicated for foreign investors.

The municipalities, except by the matters of local interest that do not invade federal and state competences, have a residual legislative competence. Usually, the average citizen does not pay much attention to the laws passed by the state and municipal assemblies. That's rather due to the lack of knowledge about the local legislators' role and the low interest of the media on the local policy... in many states, the press largely depends on governmental campaigns and propaganda.

Social welfare and environmental protection are shared realms of competence. Therefore, the three administrative levels – federal, state and municipal – can develop programs and policies related to issues such as health, food security, education, culture, housing, transport and public security. The federal government usually sets general guidelines in these common concerns. Regarding public security, state governments are the main actors because they maintain the two main police forces: the Military Police and the Civil Police. The second one is responsible for investigation and forensic proceedings.

A comparative analysis of the political demography of Brazil and the United States reveals a singularity of the Brazilian political system (see the maps below). A few states concentrate most of the population and the main economic activities. Approximately 45 million people lived in São Paulo state in 2020… the metropolitan capital's zone alone was home to more than 20 million people (more than the whole Netherlands). São Paulo city population – about 12,5  million – surpasses countries like Portugal, Belgium and Sweden. The Southeast and South regions, the most developed and populated, have only 7 states: Paraná (PR), Santa Catarina (SC), and Rio Grande do Sul (RS) in the South; Espírito Santo (ES), Rio de Janeiro (RJ), São Paulo (SP) and Minas Gerais (MG) in the Southeast. The northern region, where is the vast and sparsely populated Amazonia, also has 7 states.

The Brazilian parliament is bicameral. The representation in the Chamber of Deputies is proportional to the population and São Paulo state, obviously, elects the greatest number of deputies. However, every state has 3 senators, as well as the Federal District. So the North and Northeast regions – the less developed areas composed of 16 states – rule the Senate.

In spite of the exaggerated powers of the federal government, including the supremacy over tax collection and distribution, state governors have great influence on the elections of deputies and senators in Brazil. Then, state governors may often intervene indirectly in the federal law-making process. Many governors financially depend on the federal government whereas the president also needs the governors' support.

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