South Africa and Brazil are burdened with durable inequality and poverty a phenomenon that
persists after two decades of democratization. Both countries have developed ambitious social
policies aimed at addressing these challenges. This paper seeks to answer two questions, (i)
what social policies and programmes are being pursued by both South Africa and Brazil and
what are the results? (ii) What are the key values and principles underpinning the welfare
regimes in the two countries? The paper will compare South Africa and Brazil’s social policy
architecture in their evolution under the governance of the African National Congress (ANC)
and the Partido dos Trabalhoes (PT, Workers Party). It further deploys insights of a political
economy of institutions to understand the effects of these policies in both societies. This
analysis should be read in a dynamic global context where Conditional Cash Transfers
(CCTs) and unconditional transfers alike have shaped the ANC’s policy path, the Social
Grant for the poor and the PT’s Bolsa Familia culminating in a reinvigorated discussion and
debate within the Global Social Policy architecture. The paper advocates an institutional
analysis to social policy where mechanisms of production, protection, and distribution are
pivotal in addressing both countries socio-economic challenges.