This work aims to contribute to the interpretation of the transformations regarding the Brazilian welfare state during the New Republic (1988-2016). The study starts with a short discussion on Esping-Andersen s (1990) concept of regimes of welfare, following with a brief reconstruction of the history of Brazilian social policy in order to, lastly, dedicate itself to the analysis of the period launched by the Federal Constitution of 1988. This dissertation, then, proposes an alternative interpretation of the recent changes of the Brazilian social security scheme. According to this view, there is a simultaneous twofold trend regarding the national welfare state that points towards the expansion of both liberal inspired and social-democratic inspired social policy. The first trend would have its origins in public policy decisions made by democratic elected governments after 1988 and in options made by past regimes, especially the military dictatorship. The second would rely more on the spirit of the Federal Constitution, whose social precepts are strongly universalist. Finally, this work proposes that those two routes, which are usually regarded as opposed, actually have some complementarities, as one can see through the joint action of Programa Bolsa Família (PBF) and Benefício de Prestação Continuada (BPC) against extreme poverty in recent years.