Policy Making Latin American Public Policy Review

Complex Challenges at the Local Level: The Case of Inclusive Special Education Policies in Brazilian Federalism

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Keywords:
Complex problems, Collaborative governance, Federalism and national public policy systems, Early childhood education, Inclusive Special Education
Abstract
With the mission of expanding the welfare state, Brazilian municipalities assumed a greater role in the implementation of social policies following the 1988 Constitution. As a result, intergovernmental cooperation with federal and state governments became highly important in the management of municipalized policies, especially those addressing complex problems. Considering this institutional context, this article seeks to understand the main challenges of Inclusive Special Education policies at the local level and how the strength or weakness of federative and intersectoral collaboration mechanisms has affected their implementation process. To this end, an extensive qualitative empirical study was conducted in Brazilian municipalities as part of the Alavancas Project, led by the Instituto Rodrigo Mendes. Inclusive Education policy was selected because it aims to address complex problems and is inherently intersectoral. The findings indicate that Inclusive Special Education policies face significant challenges in both formulation and implementation at the local level, particularly in municipalities with lower state capacities and greater territorial complexities, where low integration among the different sectoral areas involved in the policy stands out. The study concludes that complex problems cannot be addressed solely through sectoral National Public Policy Systems in a context of high intermunicipal inequality, especially given the absence of mechanisms for simultaneous federative and intersectoral coordination within the Brazilian state.
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Published
2026-04-15
Issue
Vol. 1 No. 1 (2026)
Section
Analytics
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How to Cite

Abrucio, F. L., Melo, Y. M. de, Rodrigues, R. V., & Jorge, I. (2026). Complex Challenges at the Local Level: The Case of Inclusive Special Education Policies in Brazilian Federalism. Policy Making – Latin American Public Policy Review, 1(1), 37-52. https://policymaking.lat/ojs/index.php/pmla/article/view/6

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