Regional development: a political problem is made public at an opportune time, insofar as it contributes to the discussion of Brazilian economic policy, notably that oriented to regional development. It deals, for the first time, together, with the two most important regional development experiments carried out in the West: that of Cassa per il Mezzogiorno and that of SUDENE. Here we analyze the process of political and institutional emptying to which “Cassa” and SUDENE were subjected, highlighting their causes and consequences for the economy of these regions. It presents the prospects for renewing SUDENE, dependent on eminently political decisions, including also the examination of the current Brazilian Planning System. |