SOCIAL MOVEMENT-LED DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE OF

PUBLIC EDUCATIONThe Case of the Brazilian Landless Workers

MovementIt was July 9, 2011, and I was heading to interview Mayor Eduardo Coutinho
of the municipality of Água Preta, in the sugar cane region of Pernambuco. This
municipality is one of the strong holds of the Brazilian Landless Workers Movement
(MST), a large agrarian social movement that occupies land in the region and tries to
force the government to redistribute this land to poor landless workers. Over the
previous thirty years, MST activists have also developed a range of educational
proposals for the public school system that support their broader political and economic
struggle. These pedagogies include collective teacher planning, the incorporation of
students and parents in the democratic governance of the school, the integration of
manual and intellectual labor, and connecting the curriculum to the rural reality of the
students and local political struggles. I wanted to interview Eduardo because he was
one of the many elected officials throughout the country that was allowing the
movement to participate directly in educational governance and incorporate these
pedagogies LQWKHVFKRROV(GXDUGRKDGUHFHQWO\
MRLQHGWKHOHIWOHDQLQJ%UD]LOLDQ6RFLDOLVW3DUW\(PSB). He was from
an elite family that had been in power in the region for decades with different political
affiliations. Similarly to other elite families, the Coutinho family’s power was derived from
their land, as Eduardo’s grandfather had been the owner of the largest sugar plantation
in the region. Thus, Eduardo’s support of the MST seemed at odds with his economic
interests.$IWHUPLOHVRIGULYLQJRQDOPRVWLPSDVVDEOHPXGG\
URDGVZHSXOOHGXSWRKLVplantation, where a group of people was waiting. I was
escorted to Eduardo’s office and he asked me to have a seat while he “attended to the
people outside.” The first woman came in and told a story about someone sick in her
family, asking if Eduardo could help. Eduardo gave her 50 reais>LQ86@VD\
LQJWRWKHZRPDQ³,WLVonly a little, but it is from the heart, so you can buy some
groceries.” Then, two more men came inside. The first told Eduardo that he had walked
barefoot for four hours to arrive there. After the two men left the office, Eduardo asked
his assistant to give each of the men 30 reais. Eduardo turned to me, “I know that it
should not happen this way, but I have to help people when I can.” 1 In the context of a
decentralized political system, where mayors have significant economic and
political power, citizens that are aligned with Eduardo look to him for material survival.
R. TARLAU12$IWHU WKH YLVLWRUV KDG OHIW (GXDUGR DQG , MXPSHG LQWR D
WZRKRXU LQWHUYLHZabout municipal politics, the regional economy, and the MST.
Eduardo explained, “My relationship with the MST began a year after my election ... I
became closer to the movement, I supported MST marches, meetings of sem
terrinha>OLWWOHODQGOHVVFKLOGUHQ@́(GXDUGRVHHPHGRSHQWRWKH067¶V
SUHVHQFHLQKLVPXQLFLSDOLW\DQGeven supported their participation in the
municipal public school system. However, when I pushed him on the issue, asking him
why he funded a movement that critiques large land estates, he replied: “I am the
mayor, I try to attend to everyone’s demands ... I have always had a good dialogue with
the MST. Why shouldn’t ,VXSSRUWDPHHWLQJRI067\RXWK"I attend to the needs of
the Evangelical church, the soccer team, a guy who wants to go to the beach. Why not
fund a plenary of MST youth">HPSKDVLVDGGHG@ ́
$OWKRXJK(GXDUGRVXSSRUWVWKH067¶VHIIRUWVWRLQFUHDVHlocal
democratic participation in the schools – and is able to support them due to the
decentralized educational context – these relationships are also clearly part of his
strategy for maintaining political power in the municipality. ***Across Brazil, municipal,
state, and federal government officials are devolving educational responsibilities to
local MST leaders to develop curricula support teachers, design new educational
practices, and facilitate communities’ democratic participation in public schools. In many
locations like Água Preta, conservative mayors allow this to happen because the
benefits of social movement participation seem to outweigh the potential conflicts that
might arise if this help is rejected. As another local mayor in Pernambuco explained,
“After I took power, the MST became part of the administration – they helped to run the
government. They began to make a lot of suggestions about education, and we invited
them to participate ... It was very practical. The MST education collective had already
been working in the municipality for a long time.” For these mayors, the MST’s
participation in public VFKRROVVHHPVWREHD³JLYHDZD\́
ERWKDYRLGLQJFRQIOLFWVDQGKHOSLQJWKHVFKRROVfunction more efficiently.
The pedagogies the MST implements, which promote collective work practices,
democratic participatory governance, and political struggle, do not seem to be
immediately threatening.
+RZGRZHUHFRQFLOHWKLVWHQVLRQEHWZHHQDQREYLRXVDWWHPSWIRUFRR
SWDWLRQwithin a decentralized political system, and the possible presence of
what has EHHQFDOOHGHPSRZHUHGSDUWLFLSDWRU\
JRYHUQDQFH )XQJDQG:ULJKW",QWKLVFKDSWHU,DUJXHWKDWGHFHQWUDOL]
DWLRQGRHVQRWQHFHVVDULO\OHDGWRPRUHERWWRPXSdemocracy at the local
level. To the contrary, given the extreme economic and social inequalities within
communities, decentralization often leads to power becoming even more concentrated
in the hands of economic and political elites. However, if there is a collective effort by an
organized group with a clear vision for how to expand democratic participation,
decentralization can also offer an opportunityfor these movements to claim space within
the state to promote local governance

Centralization is said to be a process where the concentration of decision making is in a few hands. All
the important decision and actions at the lower level, all subjects and actions at the lower level are subject
to the approval of top management. According to Allen, “Centralization” is the systematic and consistent
reservation of authority at central points in the organization. The implication of centralization can be :-

1. Reservation of decision making power at top level.

2. Reservation of operating authority with the middle level managers.
 3. Reservation of operation at lower level at the directions of the top level.

Under centralization, the important and key decisions are taken by the top management and the other
levels are into implementations as per the directions of top level. For example, in a business concern, the
father & son being the owners decide about the important matters and all the rest of functions like
product, finance, marketing, personnel, are carried out by the department heads and they have to act as
per instruction and orders of the two people. Therefore in this case, decision making power remain in the
hands of father & son.

On the other hand, Decentralization is a systematic delegation of authority at all levels of

management and in all of the organization. In a decentralization concern, authority in retained by the top
management for taking major decisions and framing policies concerning the whole concern. Rest of the
authority may be delegated to the middle level and lower level of management.

The degree of centralization and decentralization will depend upon the amount of authority delegated
to the lowest level. According to Allen, “Decentralization refers to the systematic effort to delegate to the
lowest level of authority except that which can be controlled and exercised at central points.

Decentralization is not the same as delegation. In fact, decentralization is all extension of delegation.
Decentralization pattern is wider is scope and the authorities are diffused to the lowest most level of
management.

Delegation of authority is a complete process and takes place from one person to another. While
decentralization is complete only when fullest possible delegation has taken place. For example, the
general manager of a company is responsible for receiving the leave application for the whole of the
concern. The general manager delegates this work to the personnel manager who is now responsible for
receiving the leave applicants. In this situation delegation of authority has taken place. On the other hand,
on the request of the personnel manager, if the general manager delegates this power to all the
departmental heads at all level, in this situation decentralization has taken place.

There is a saying that “Everything that increasing the role of subordinates is decentralization and
that decreases the role is centralization”. Decentralization is wider in scope and the subordinate’s
responsibility increase in this case. On the other hand, in delegation the managers remain answerable
even for the acts of subordinates to their superiors.

Implications of Decentralization
1. There is less burden on the Chief Executive as in the case of centralization.
2. In decentralization, the subordinates get a chance to decide and act independently which
develops skills and capabilities. This way the organization is able to process reserve of talents in
it.
3. In decentralization, diversification and horizontal can be easily implanted.
4. In decentralization, concern diversification of activities can place effectively since there is more
scope for creating new departments. Therefore, diversification growth is of a degree.
5. In decentralization structure, operations can be coordinated at divisional level which is not
possible in the centralization set up.
6. In the case of decentralization structure, there is greater motivation and morale of the employees
since they get more independence to act and decide.
7. In a decentralization structure, co-ordination to some extent is difficult to maintain as there are lot
many department divisions and authority is delegated to maximum possible extent, i.e., to the
bottom most level delegation reaches. Centralization and decentralization are the categories by
which the pattern of authority relationships became clear. The degree of centralization and de-
centralization can be affected by many factors like nature of operation, volume of profits, number
of departments, size of a concern, etc. The larger the size of a concern, a decentralization set up
is suitable in it.