The article outlines a diagnosis of the institutional capacity of Brazilian states in the social assistance from the analysis of three aspects: financial, administrative and political. This is a comparison of the 26 states of the federation and the Distrito Federal using secondary data from the Pesquisa de Informações Básicas Estaduais do IBGE from 2012, from the Sistema de Coleta de Dados Contábeis from Federal Government (SISTN) and from the Relatório de Informações Sociais do Ministério do Desenvolvimento Social e Combate à Fome from 2011. The data show that there may be different ways of states of performance even within a national system. The heterogeneity occur because to discretion conferred by the institutional design of Suas the state one. This situation contributes to the perpetuation of existing regional inequalities, precluding the consolidation of the Brazilian welfare state.
federalism; decentralization; social assistance; institutional capacity
