Mata Mineira: um estudo sobre a exclusão social e os limites e possibilidades das políticas de desenvolvimento territorial

Abstract

Based on the information gathered from Social Exclusion/Inclusion Maps, and from a diversified set of sources, this thesis aims at enhancing the understanding about the local reality of the region known as Zona da Mata Mineira (Minas Gerais State, Brazil) with purposes of subsidizing the social management of a sustained development in this territory through consistent, viable, and effective public policies. By means of studying events and historical records it was identified an excluding and predatory process of formation that affected the territory and the actors under study in an uneven way. The development of social exclusion/inclusion maps for Minas Gerais and its Zona da Mata Mineira – taking as parameters the limits of public policies and problems associated to measuring social phenomena – allowed an understanding of the behavior of inequalities and marginalization processes affecting the population of these spaces. The understanding of the formation process and the identification of regional socio-economic problems allowed the discussion of alternative ways to tackle the obstacles restraining Zona da Mata Minera’s development. A general conclusion is that there exist available resources – oftentimes not fully utilized - to fight social exclusion and to rescue the local development of Mata Mineira. The actions for correcting the imbalances present in the territory depends on the existence of an expected influence of public agents and an effective participation of civil society, in other words, the good government.