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Despite improvements in the living conditions of the population, there has not been a significant change in income disparities. Since the growth of left-wing parties and political competition as per the median voter hypothesis do not stand in the Brazilian case, what could explain the tenacity of inequality in the country? To answer this, the paper, grounded in new institutionalism theory, employed a process-tracing method to explore the causes of the continuity of unequal income distribution in Brazil. The inquiry tests the mechanism using the case of redistributive fiscal policy and the literature of electoral rules and business influence in the political system. This analysis reinforces that the Brazilian government not only misuses its fiscal instruments to distribute income, but also acts as a 'Robin Hood in reverse': that is, it withdraws from those who have less to subsidize or pay transfers to those who have more.

Abstract The main goal of this paper is to analyze whether innovations in the federal government follow public management trends, especially in the post-New Public Management (NPM) era. The article, based on exploratory descriptive research, investigates the most frequent trends in terms of principles and guidelines, their evolution in time and the relationship among the trends, and the thematic area of the innovations. To accomplish the goal, we initially conducted a comprehensive literature review to map the post-NPM trends. Next, we used content analysis to verify these initiatives based on the Federal Award of Public Management Innovation (FAPMI) from 2007 to 2015. The empirical findings confirm that more than 90% of these initiatives have at least one post-NPM principle/directive. The recurrent initiatives are collaboration/partnership, coordination/control, and participation/engagement with minor differences between the FAPMI runners-up and winners. A comparison of the trends according to innovation type, depicted by their thematic areas, revealed an overall heterogeneity among these trends. The most frequent type - new arrangement - is highly related to collaboration and partnership, while internal ends initiatives have less common post-NPM principles/directives, such as strengthening bureaucracy and leadership.

A subject that has gained prominence in the fields of political science and public administration is the Core of Government (CoG), that is, units and/or individuals responsible for the alignment and coordination of the main objectives of the president or first-minister. Although the topic has several names, a question still deserves to be better addressed: how do the planning, coordination and management of the Executive branch's priorities operate? However, the literature of CoG is still in early stage, especially in Brazil. In order to contribute to this debate, this paper develops a broad literature review with three primary goals: to present the concepts and findings of the international literature of core of government; to map the advances of the field of study of the Executive branch in Brazil and to indicate the future research agenda in the country. As a conclusion, the diversity of analytical strategies must be seen as constructive to the extent which there is a consensus that the frameworks' variations of the core of government are the rule, not the exception. In addition, the Brazilian case constitutes an excellent research laboratory on the Executive dynamics, due to its political-institutional particularities. Therefore, this research agenda tends to contribute to the description and explanation of how the political system operates and, above all, its effects on the decision-making processes and their outputs and outcomes in terms of public policies.

The paper's main goal is to map trends in terms of management principles and directives, as well as transformations that permeate the public administration in the last decades. Grounded on the recent academic production, central issues are discussed in order to understand the changes in the public sector and to contribute to the theoretical debate and to future empirical investigations in an analytical framework of functions and, above all, innovative experiences. As a result, the literature converges to a perception of the principles and directives of post-NPM administration as a process of continuity or incrementalism rather than a rupture with the previous paradigm. However, when compared to the original assumptions of the Movement, regarding the dimensions of focus, inspirational source, strategic, fundamental beliefs, among others, the post-NPM differs categorically. In addition, the trends, as well as in the NPM, are present different forms, varying according to the context and institutional framework of each government. That is, institutions and history, endogeneously developed, matter for the understanding of the public administration framework. The most emblematic feature of the current public management is the prevalence of the governance, which in different formats can aggregate a significant part of the post-NPM principles and directives mapped in the literature. Finally, another central aspect of the debate is the incongruity of pure and complete overcoming of management paradigms, between NPM and traditional bureaucracy or between post-NPM and new public management. The literature suggests an incremental and disorderly process, independent of the country or the moment analyzed.

Vale a pena ser um bom prefeito? Os eleitores premiam ou punem os atuais ocupantes da prefeitura com base na gestão fiscal? De um lado, pesquisadores da escola de Michigan argumentam que eleitores são desinformados e com pouco conhecimento político. Assim, os cidadãos tomam decisões eleitorais míopes. Por outro lado, a literatura de accountability eleitoral, sobretudo do voto retrospectivo, defende que, embora eleitores possuam informações incompletas, suas decisões eleitorais são competentes, logo, premiam ou punem políticos/partidos de acordo com o seu desempenho. No sentido de testar essas hipóteses no caso brasileiro, o artigo mensura os efeitos do desempenho fiscal das prefeituras, caracterizado pelo Índice Firjan de Gestão Fiscal, na probabilidade de reeleição em 2008. Os resultados dos modelos multivariados confirmam o voto retrospectivo, na medida em que se observam efeitos expressivos da administração orçamentária e financeira sobre as chances de reeleição dos prefeitos.

The paper's goal is to advance at understanding of the public management framework after decades of administrative reform under the New Public Management (NPM) hegemony. Based on a broad literature review, the paper maps trends in terms of principles and guidelines and indicates that post-NPM is a process of continuity rather than a disruption with the previous paradigm. The implementation processes of the management trends, as well as in the NPM, are presented in different ways, varying according to the context and institutional framework of each government. The article concludes that the most emblematic characteristic of the contemporary public administration is the prevalence of the governance phenomenon that, in different formats, encompasses most of the post-NPM principles and guidelines discussed in the literature. In this sense, the return of the State and the bureaucracy as protagonists is emphasized, however, far from the traditional hierarchical standard. The current role of the civil service focus on the direction of interdisciplinary skills, collaborative capacities, increasing accountability to society, as well as leadership with interactive components.

O artigo visa apresentar o debate acerca das transformações oriundas da última reforma do planejamento e orçamento no Brasil, a qual introduziu o novo desenho do Plano Plurianual (PPA). Inicialmente, os princípios do modelo de orçamento por resultados ou desempenho que balizaram a formulação do novo PPA são discutidos. Com base nos planos de gestão das experiências recentes do Plano e na proposta do próximo PPA (2008-2011), são apresentadas as inovações da configuração do processo orçamentário no país. Por fim, o artigo aborda os avanços e restrições da implementação do novo desenho do PPA e conclui que, apesar de formalmente instituídos, os instrumentos do orçamento por resultados não atingem a finalidade precípua do modelo: melhoria da efetividade e eficiência nos gastos públicos.Palavras-chaves: Plano Plurianual; orçamento; planejamento; avaliação; reforma.

O artigo analisa o processo de implementação e o modelo de gestão do Programa Bolsa Família (PBF), no cerne do debate de centralização-descentralização. A hipótese do estudo é que o PBF não apenas caminhou para o fortalecimento da descentralização, superando alguns desafios da consolidação do "pacto federativo", como também construiu uma configuração mais complexa, próxima à gestão em redes. Para tanto, é apresentada uma discussão teórica acerca do federalismo, da descentralização das políticas sociais e do conceito de redes de políticas públicas. Em seguida, são discernidos os princípios que fundamentaram a concepção do programa, bem como as principais estratégias de implementação. Como conclusão, argumenta-se que apesar de ainda persistirem desafios à gestão compartilhada, a implementação do PBF se pautou não apenas no princípio da descentralização, como também na transparência, controle e participação popular.Palavras-chave: implementação de políticas públicas, relações federativas, descentralização de programas sociais, rede de políticas públicas.

Practitioners and scholars of public administration currently seem to have overcome comprehensive reform strategies and are focusing their attention on minor changes in public administration that generate short-term outcomes with lower transactional costs. In that sense, many have argued that innovation can contribute to improve the public service quality and efficiency as well as to enhance government capacity in solving problems. In Brazil, specifically, there is a certain degree of consensus about the increase of management innovation practices over the last two decades. However, as in other countries, the lack of evidence-based knowledge regarding different dimensions of innovation prevails. One important dimension that must be deeply investigated is the innovation's determinants. In other words, which factors influence the public sector innovation initiatives? The paper aims to answer this relevant question. This paper's original data comes from the Federal Management Innovation Award (FMIA), the most important innovation prize in Brazil, conducted by the National School of Public Administration (Enap), to recognize innovative practices that have improved government capacity and service delivery. Every year, twenty initiatives are nominated to the final and ten are awarded as the most innovative management practices. Using quantitative dataset, built from content analyzes of these initiatives' reports from 2007 to 2015, we examine their influential factors. The research results confirm the hypothesis that innovation is not an isolated construct, in other words, its determinants tend to be also influenced by the relationships with the types and phases of the innovation.

Recent studies point to alternate models of public management with the purpose of surpassing the assumptions of the New Public Management. The current theoretical debate centers on the prevalent view that government is not following a specific management model of well-organized principles and guidelines. Instead, the literature converges on the perception that the contemporary public administration functions with tendencies closer to innovative management principles and tools. Given the recent structural changes in Brazil, is the government functioning under any model or is it converging with any trends? This paper systematically explores the improvements in management raised from the winning initiatives of the Federal Award of Public Management Innovation, from 2007 to 2014. Research indicates nearly all principles and tools described were incorporated, in varying degrees, in the winning innovations in the federal government. Most initiatives (98%) fall into the trend. The prevailing innovations are based on information technology and networking strategies as to provide better quality and more efficient public services.

The paper analyzes the professionalization process of Brazilian federal bureaucracy, aiming to uncover advances and persistent dilemmas that have been present in Brazil's recent democratic period, between 1995 and 2014. Following a literature review of the historical evolution of federal bureaucracy, the paper discusses key dimensions related to the professionalization of the public service. It concludes that there was a wide range of advances with regard to recovery and diversification of the workforce, financial valuation, and training, among others. However, dilemmas and challenges remain, especially related to the historical gap between careers and positions in federal public administration. ; El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar el proceso de profesionalización de la burocracia brasileña del gobierno federal. En este sentido, la investigación pretende responder cuáles son los avances y dilemas persistentes en el período democrático reciente entre 1995 y 2014. Después de una revisión de la literatura sobre la evolución histórica de la burocracia federal, el artículo analiza las dimensiones clave relacionadas con la profesionalización del servicio público de país. De ello se concluye que existe una amplia gama de avances con respecto a la recuperación y la diversificación de la fuerza laboral, la valoración financiera, el aumento de la formación, entre otros. Sin embargo, los dilemas y desafíos permanecen, sobre todo para hacer frente a la brecha histórica entre carreras y puestos en la administración pública federal. ; O objetivo deste artigo é analisar o processo de profissionalização da burocracia brasileira no âmbito da administração pública federal. Nesse sentido, a pesquisa se propõe a responder quais seriam os avanços e dilemas persistentes no período democrático recente, entre 1995 e 2014. Após uma revisão de literatura da evolução histórica da burocracia federal, o trabalho discute dimensões centrais relativas à profissionalização do serviço público no país. Conclui-se que houve um conjunto amplo de avanços no que tange a recomposição e diversificação da força de trabalho, valorização pecuniária, aumento da qualificação, entre outros. Todavia, permanecem dilemas e desafios, sobretudo, no enfrentamento do fosso histórico entre carreiras e cargos na administração pública federal.

Abstract The 1988 federal Constitution introduced a complex and innovative institutional arrangement that not only reestablished political rights and democratic procedures, but also reinforced decentralization as a fundamental guideline for policy implementation in Brazil. As a result, municipalities have become pivotal actors in the policymaking process. Scholars of Latin American politics have given much emphasis to the causes and determinants of decentralization, but not much has been done toward a more general understanding of how this increased decentralization has affected policymaker behavior and policy outcomes. This paper aims to do exactly that. Specifically, it investigates how institutional arrangements and electoral competition affect local government performance. The theoretical basis is the electoral democratic theory that broadly highlights elections as instruments of citizen control in retrospective and prospective voting approaches. The research employs a large-N cross sub-national analysis based on a dataset of electoral, partisan, socioeconomic and public financial information collected from over 5500 municipalities. Local governments' performance, our dependent variables, are synthetic indicators formulated from 2009 nationwide surveys on public education, health, housing and welfare services. The OLS regression results confirm the hypothesis that politics variables do matter in how politicians make decisions and implement policy under the new Brazilian democratic Era. The empirical evidences suggest that electoral competition does not present a direct effect on government performance, however, ideology and citizen participation do. Therefore, this paper helps to expand our understanding of a political system's impact on public policy outputs, which is extremely important not only for academic purpose but also to support policymakers' decisions.

O pressuposto da pesquisa é que as prefeituras que mais investem tendem a possuir melhores condições para a implementação de uma política pública, ou seja, quanto maior os dispêndios orçamentários dos governos, mais efetivos serão os seus desempenhos na provisão dos serviços públicos. A fim de avaliar esse postulado, o presente artigo objetiva investigar a qualidade dos gastos públicos mediante a análise da relação entre a execução orçamentária nas políticas de saúde, educação e assistência social e a efetividade das prefeituras na estruturação e provisão dos serviços. Os resultados indicam a existência de sérios problemas acerca da qualidade dos gastos nas políticas sociais brasileiras, na medida em que, em todos os seis casos analisados, prevalecem relações lineares fracas ou nulas entre o dispêndio orçamentário, a capacidade administrativa e a provisão de serviços públicos, divergindo, portanto, da premissa original do estudo.Palavras-chave: Qualidade de gasto; Política social; Governos municipais

O artigo desenvolve um estudo comparado qualitativo acerca das Políticas de Transferência Condicionada de Renda na América Latina. Esta modalidade de política, considerada a mais nova geração das políticas sociais, compartilha três componentes básicos: transferência monetária direta ao cidadão ou família; foco nos segmentos mais pobres e a cobrança de condicionalidades. Na última década, seus impactos sobre a melhoria das condições de vida da população têm chamado a atenção de governos, organismos multilaterais e do meio acadêmico. Todavia, a literatura tem focado predominantemente na análise dos seus impactos e menos nos fatores relativos à operacionalização desses programas. Por isso, o objetivo principal do artigo é descrever as estruturas de funcionamento dessas políticas, haja vista sua influência sobre os seus resultados. Para fins de comparação são selecionados os programas dos governos do Brasil, México, Chile e Colômbia, uma vez que são as experiências mais consolidadas da região. O trabalho conclui que embora os modelos de implementação sejam bastante diversificados, todos compactuam com a percepção multidimensional da pobreza e, portanto, seu enfrentamento demanda ações de caráter intersetorial. Ademais, os bons resultados na focalização desses programas são consequência da priorização de estratégias de descentralização que potencializam a coordenação e cooperação nas ações governamentais.Palavras-Chave: Políticas Públicas; Implementação; Programas de Transferência Condicionada de Renda; América Latina.