Through the analysis of the concepts of Federal States and decentralization, this paper aims at demonstrating the distinctions between both. It shows that, in Brazil, federalism was reinstated in the late 1980s, prior to the social policies decentralization, in the late 1990s. It pinpoints that, owing to the lack of importance of social policies in local administrations, Brazil presents a decentralization pattern similar to that of North-America.
Federal States; Social Policies; Decentralization
