Governance and controls

• Autor(a) principal: Martins, Carlos Estevam
• Data de Publicação: 1989
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista de Administração Pública
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.fgv.br/rap/article/view/9174

This article discusses the importance of control for the Brazilian society and state. The author tries eliminate a widespread prejudice shared by social sciences in Brazil, which link control to repression, and aims to show the significance of discussing such a matter, the author unfolds two arguments. One inserts the subject of control in a wider debate on governability that social sciences promote since the 60's, by stressing the very little regard given to control - one of the most important elements of governability. The other argument rescues the theoretical links between democracy and control. By principle, there is no opposition between republican forms of government and the existence of control mechanisms. On the contrary, these are the mechanisms which guarantee rights and freedom within democracies. On the other hand, the author identifies a real opposition between control and modernism. By denying the forms of the past and promoting continuous ruptures, but never looking towards future goals, modernism consists in the antithesis of control, that always presumes a purpose, either lo maintain a past state, either to modify a present state in the future. The author believes that it is necessary to find the just measure between lack and excess of control in either situation. A harmonious coexistence between control and freedom depends upon it. This necessary balance requires not only equidistance from the extremes, but also a circular system of control to regulate the relations between those who control and those who are controlled. The notion of circularity provides the criteria for classifyng the different kinds of control. Controls can be arranged in four groups: those carried out by society (over itself and over the state); those put in action by the state (over itself and over society). The author concludes by examining each of these classes of control. After determining their theoretical significance and their scope, he analyzes how these controls work in Brazil, identifying the widespread inefficiency that damages governability in this country.