The article analyzes empirical evidence concerning intergovernmental relations in key areas of social policy – health, education and social care – with the purpose of assessing whether or nor they would be consistent with typical parameters of a decentralized and cooperative federalism. The analysis concludes that, despite the sharing of powers between levels of government in juridical and legal terms, the pattern of intergovernmental relations consolidated two and a half decades after the 1988 Constitution is primarily marked by vertical integration, the Union acting as formulator and inductor of social policies and programs implemented by subnational governments, resulting in characteristics much closes to a centralized federalism.
Federalism; Cooperation; Intergovernmental relations; Social policies
