Projeto Governo Cidadão and the approach to clusters: an analysis of the limits of the approach in Rio Grande do Norte

• Autor(a) principal: Fernandes, Vinícius Rodrigues Vieira
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Jesus, Clesio Marcelino de
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por; eng
• Título da fonte: Redes (Santa Cruz do Sul. Online)
• Texto Completo: https://online.unisc.br/seer/index.php/redes/article/view/16907
• topic: Clusters. Rural territorial development. Projeto Governo Cidadão. Rio Grande do Norte. Açu-Mossoró territory.; Arreglos Productivos Locales. Desarrollo territorial rural. Projeto Governo Cidadão. Rio Grande do Norte. Territorio Açu-Mossoró.; Arranjos Produtivos Locais. Desenvolvimento territorial rural. Projeto Governo Cidadão. Rio Grande do Norte. Território Açu-Mossoró.

The development approach based on the constitution of clusters has, over the years, aroused the interest of several institutions, such as the World Bank, which has been recommending its adoption in the context of public policies. The state of Rio Grande do Norte (Brazil) began to adopt this approach in the Projeto Governo Cidadão. Considering the economic, social and political context of depressed spaces the limits that are presented for public policies when adopting the cluster approach as a strategy for territorial development are questioned. We seek to discuss the main problems of institutionalizing the idea of cluster as an instrument of public policy in the Rio Grande do Norte. The theoretical construction is based on the notion of clusters, the insertion of this approach in the development agenda of the World Bank and the presentation of the Projeto Governo Cidadão. Secondary data present in the literature are used in the analysis, as well as semi-structured interviews, focus groups and simple and participant observations, taking as reference of the Açu-Mossoró territory. Important limiting aspects are identified, among them, the lack of an agglutinative concept of cluster, the low generation of external economies and the low level of social capital and governance. It is concluded that it is necessary to reflect on the relationship between subnational spaces and multilateral organizations. Moreover, the focus on clusters requires a process based on the effective participation of the State.