Bolsa Familia: Two lessons

I believe there are two main lessons that can be drawn from the investigation of Bolsa Familia. The first one relates to the complexities of the relations and interlinkages between the state and diverse groups in society. Lula’s government had to adopt the human capital discourse to make Bolsa Familia a palatable project for domestic and international capital. Furthermore, the state had to procure the economic resources to fund the initiative without resorting to an economically and politically costly inter-class transfer of resources. This move, at the same time, depended largely on a booming economy that allowed for an explosion in fiscal revenue. The state’s agency, while conditioned and constrained by each of these factors, still played a crucial role in the creation of a program that offered invaluable aid to millions of people in poverty.

The second lesson refers to the inherent limits of state capacity in resolving the contradictions and pernicious consequences of the capitalist mode of production. The state may do many things, but it cannot challenge the underlying prerogatives of the business enterprise without undermining its own legitimacy. Unemployment and poverty are features of a system that is inherently unequal. While states like Brazil can certainly diminish the negative impact of these features on the population, it cannot eradicate the root of the problem. Capitalist states cannot be expected to hinder their own development. If society, whether due to environmental and/or social concerns, wishes to move beyond capitalism, it should not expect the change to come from the state apparatus.