Policy Analysis in Brazil: Emergence and Institutionalisation

Abstract

Government decisions are taken based on circumstantiated studies and analyses of the policy in question. These studies, backed up by theory, research and good practices, indicate the alternatives available and their consequences, thus allowing the decision maker to choose with knowledge and confidence the most convenient programme or policy for the objectives proposed. Does this ideal, modern, rational world correspond to the practices of decision-makers? Is this comfortable situation, in which validated options are offered in order to inform decisions taken in the public and private spheres, the norm? That is not always the case. It is even less true if one considers all countries. This is because this ideal situation assumes that certain " normal " prerequisites will be in place, i.e. a degree of evolution in the process of modernisation of the state and a legal-institutional framework that requires and legitimises processes of the type described; in short, the availability of technical and bureaucratic personnel endowed with competence and ability to manage the methods and instruments of policy analysis. However, such conditions cannot be created overnight. They result from long and complex processes of institutional development and the modernisation of organisations and procedures. Even then, it still takes time for those practices to become widespread and take root. What are the characteristics of the Brazilian practice of public policy analysis? This is the question that Policy Analysis in Brazil attempts to answer. (2014) 8 (2) 119 Historical and methodological questions are the topics of Part I. The professionalisation of policy analysis in Brazil (VAITSMAN, MENDES RIBEIRO and LOBATO, 2013) is examined in the light of the wider context of modernisation of the state and development of a professionalised bureaucracy, recruited on merit, knowledge and technical specialisation (SOUZA, 2013). These conditions were necessary but not sufficient for the emergence, diffusion and dissemination of the policy analyst profession. This only happened when the shape of the state and forms of governance changed, with the 1988 Constitution and more transparent and participative deliberative processes. Policy analysis is a recent disciplinary and professional field, which did not develop with its own methodologies and styles, particularly not with those enshrined by the Anglo-Saxon tradition. In Brazil, it initially leant on the economic style of analysis (for example, cost-benefit analysis) and, after 1988, on the socio-political style of analysis, incorporating methodological instruments from the social sciences (ANDREWS, 2013). The studies in Part II examine the production of policy analyses of bodies of the federal executive (MENDES RIBEIRO and INGLEZ-DIAS, 2013; PAES DE SOUZA and HELLMAN, 2013), state governments (FILGUEIRAS and ROCHA, 2013), municipal governments (FARAH, 2013), of public banks such as the BNDES [Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico – Brazilian Bank for Development] (VELASCO and CASTELAR PINHEIRO, 2013) and of the Brazilian Congress (SANTOS, 2013). With a special focus on the relationship between public policy and politics, Part III examines policy analysin different contexts: the cases of the Conselho Nacional de Assistência Social [CNAS – National Council for Social Assistance] (VARGAS CÔRTES, 2013), social movements (HORA GÓIS, 2013) and other civil society associations, such as those actively involved in the shaping of a national policy to fight AIDS (MASSARD DA FONSECA and BASTOS, 2013), the media (LATTMAN-WELTMAN, 2013), political party (DANTAS NETO, 2013) and business associations (BOSCHI, 2013). Part IV is dedicated to the production of policy analysis in universities, research institutes and think-tanks. The latter are few and recent, having generally been established with a certain distance from political activity and social movements (TEIXEIRA, 2013). The case of universities is different. The strong epistemic community involved in the institution of a national health policy, for example, mobilised in the 1980s the specialist's academic production, successful in creating a national health system according to the principles it extolled (ROSÁRIO COSTA, 2013). The widening of university activity, which involved studies on the evaluation, formulation and implementation of policies, strengthened the role of academia in the field (BATISTA, 2013). From the end of the 1980s, the training of public policy analysts also increased, with subjects and postgraduate programmes multiplying, giving public policy greater visibility and prominence (HOLANDA and SIQUEIRA, 2013). The book's definitions, perspective and form ensure its unity and homogeneity. Among the many definitions of policy analysis, the authors chose the one that sees it as the area of public policy studies whose aim is to produce technical-scientific substantiation and alternatives for decision-makers. Differently from the analysis of policy, which is analytical and descriptive, it deals with analysis for policy, which is prescriptive and propositional (For this definition and others, see BARDACH,