Local integrity system in Brazil: Analysis of internal actors in small cities of Santa Catarina

• Autor(a) principal: De Bona, Rodrigo
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: spa; por
• Título da fonte: Cadernos Gestão Pública e Cidadania (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.fgv.br/cgpc/article/view/82898
• topic: public integrity; corruption; internal control; auditing; ombudsman; Public management; democracy; Brazil; integridad pública; corrupción; control interno; auditoría; ombudsman; Administración Pública; Democracia; Brasil; integridade pública; corrupção; controle interno; auditoria; ouvidoria; Administração Pública; Democracia; Brasil

This article aims to analyze and describe the existing Local Integrity System (LIS) in a sample of Brazilian’ small cities, emphasizing the internal actors of the executive power, and the practical operation of the checks and balances mechanisms coordinated by them (activities and outputs), from an institutional perspective with five dimensions: the existence and enforcement of the rules, and the existence, capacity and autonomy of the institutions. Three actors were selected: the internal control and audit sector, the ombudsman, and the internal affairs and administrative sanction sector. Statistical analysis was applied on data from 282 municipalities with up to 100,000 inhabitants of the State of Santa Catarina. The findings have confirmed recent studies, that LIS in little cities has extremely fragile internal institutions, if not nonexistent. Where there is, the actors have no enforcement, autonomy or capacity to implement the mechanisms necessary for the anti-corruption cycle. Integrity systems can be imposed on local governments by the central government, or by external pressure, such as from the OECD, in which Brazil has tried to be accepted as a member, which may be a path for the Brazilian case.