Beyond public participation: Interfaces in the Brazilian federal government

Abstract

The paper develops an analytical mapping of contemporary forms of interaction between state and societal actors in the processes of making and controlling public policies in Brazil. In order to broaden the scope of analysis and go beyond current approaches that have emphasized participation spaces and public deliberation, we use the concept "state-society interfaces". We analyze data on all federal programs from 2002 to 2010, trying to identify the patterns of longitudinal evolution, diversification, and sectorial distribution of a set of interfaces at the national level. The findings reveal that different types of state-society interfaces are associated with different sectors of the federal bureaucracy, performing different roles in each of them. We argue these findings support the perception of a complex "ecology" of state and society relationship in contemporary Brazil.