New public management and popular-democratic governments: Contradictions between the pursuit for efficiency and the expansion of the right to education

Abstract

This article discusses the predominance of public management models introduced in Brazil in the 1990s, even with the coming of an opposition government. It also discusses the concept of New Public Management and its introduction in the Brazilian reality. The focus is on educational management in the federal organization of the country with different political orientations in its administrative spheres, identifying contradictions among the different governments, as well as internally to the federal government. Despite the advances related to the expansion of rights, along with poverty reduction and greater social inclusion, the changes promoted by the “popular-democratic governments” did not break with the previous rationality, introducing a fundamental contradiction in the educational sphere as the social movements that form the political base of these governments bring other realities, conceptions and pedagogical practices.