20 years of anti-racist policy in Brazilian federalism (2003-2022)

effects of the absence of an effective national system of racial equality

Abstract

This article analyzes the trajectory of anti-racist public policy in Brazil between 2003 and 2022, from the perspective of literature on National Public Policy Systems and policies to promote racial equality. The work points out that, in general, anti-racist policy was concentrated in the Union, without there being a federative articulation to expand it at the subnational level. From 2013 onwards, efforts were made to strengthen it, with the creation of the National System for the Promotion of Racial Equality (SINAPIR). But its implementation was practically interrupted with the Dilma Rousseff impeachment crisis. This materialized in successive difficulties, such as the institutional downgrading of the Special Secretariat for Policies for the Promotion of Racial Equality (SEPPIR), budgetary insignificance, low adherence of States and Municipalities to the System and the absence of induction and coordination mechanisms of federative entities. In this sense, the work reveals that anti-racist policy remained residual throughout the period, signaling difficulties in its consolidation as a public policy of a federative nature, a fundamental element for its expansion and for expanding and qualifying the fight against racial inequalities.