Bourgeois state and nature of planning in the Northeast

Examining the case of the Northeast, this work seeks to discuss more profoundlythe nature of the modem State in Brazil and the political sense of planning which envelopsits actions. It proceeds from the principle that the question of the “Two Brazils” – whichwhile no longer a polemical point in purely economic analysis – continues as a controversialelement in the treatment of the national political question, especially with regard tothe Brazilian State. Thus, the idea that the formation of the bourgeoise State in Brazil cameabout through an ambiguous coexistence with an oligarchic, conservative, and anti-industrialState is a tradition that serves merely to confuse our understanding of the particularitiesof the constitution of the modem State, social classes, and regional social movements.Therefore, the recovery of the idea of unity in the study of the formation of the State appearsas a suggestive approach for rediscussing primordial aspects of the national and regional political question and for understanding certain basic elements of the capitalist transformationswhich, as evidenced in the Northeast since the end of last century, have assumed sharpercontours during recent decades. JEL Classification: O15.