retrospective and prospective reflections on territorial governance for rural development in Brazil[Reflexões retrospectivas e prospectivas sobre a governança territorial para o desenvolvimento rural no Brasil]

Between 2003 and 2016, the Brazilian federal government implemented the National Program for the Sustainable Development of Rural Territories (PRONAT), whose "governance" took place within participatory institutional arrangements formed by social actors groups, their organizationsand government representativesthrough equal parity in representation. This work aims to: (i) assess the progress and constraints of territorial governance in this program in Brazil, through analysis of the "social management cycle", the participatory decision-making process and (ii)to present proposals for an adjustment of territorial governance in the country, in favor of its recovery by an eventual progressive federal government or in States of the Federation that adopt this perspective. To this end, the authors expose and interpret the Social Management Index (IGS), inferred by calculating nine indicators grouped in three dimensions, based on the statistical tabulation of 785 questionnaires applied to active members of territorial collegesbodies in 33 Citizenship Territories, whose scores are compared with data and reflections produced in two national surveys, carried out between 2010 and 2017.