From Social Security to “Intersectoriality”: Reflections on the Integration of Social Policies in Brazil

Abstract

This article reflects on the dilemmas of integration of social policies in Brazil since the inscription of Social Security in the country’s constitution of 1988 until the most recent theories on “intersectorality.” The analysis is built above all on the trajectories of health care and social assistance policies, considering that the institutional legacies and the history of formation of these fields provide a base for fertile debate for this study. It demonstrates that the implementation of Social Security confronts political and economic obstacles that hamper the integrated promise proposed. In addition, it observes that the decentralized model from which social policies operate, in particular those for healthcare and social assistance, emphasizes the need for an intersectorial synergy to confront the complexity of social problems. Finally, it seeks to highlight the principal challenges to the integration of social policies, indicating that this is not a trivial task.