How do populist governments approach public bureaucracies? Here we reflect on the rise of Bolsonarism as a form of populism in the Brazilian context and on its relationship with public bureaucracies. Bolsonaro's "strategy of governing" builds on an unstable coalition that combines neoconservatism, market-oriented economic approach and military nationalism and corporativism. We analyze how the antagonism at the center of this coalition shapes bureaucratic strategic positions and defend an understanding of Bolsonarism as an ideology of contentious governing that nurtures divisive bureaucracies.
AbstractBureaucratic reputations are largely shaped by the media's evaluations of such agencies. However, the research overlooks how the media evaluates public agencies, particularly in low‐trust contexts. Using inductive machine‐learning techniques, we uncover the media's evaluations of Brazilian regulatory agencies based on more than 38,000 stories published within the last 20 years with the aim of exploring what drives their media evaluations and which reputational dimensions are privileged in the negative media coverage of regulatory agencies. We find different patterns of media evaluations that reflect a unique interplay of media logic, agency strategizing, and the quality of the policy context in which the agencies operate. However, even in a low‐trust context, some agencies are able to build a favorable media reputation. In contrast, agencies with unfavorable media reputations are systematically questioned along many reputational dimensions and are subject to stronger negativity bias.
A história reformista da administração pública brasileira, embora caracterizada por períodos de maiores ímpetos e outros de certa apatia, tem sido um constante no cenário politico brasileiro, como resgata na reflexão do professor Pinho. Entretanto, a narrativa histórica do professor finaliza com certo de gosto amargo: "parece que estamos condenados a mudanças incrementais e lentas, embora a velocidade possa estar aumentando."
The principal objective of the present paper is to analyse the introduction of Taylorism, understood as a capitalist way of managing production and labour, in the former Soviet Union. The application of this capitalist model of production and management had strongly influenced the course of Socialism in the former Soviet Union. The study concentrates on the changes which occurred within the period 1917—1929, trying to highlight the factors that influenced the introduction of Taylorism in the former Soviet Union, specially the economic conditions of the country, the characteristics of the proletariat (ruling social class) and the peasantry (dominant social class), the limitations of the ruling role of the Bolshevik party, the macroeconomic and industrialization policies. Such trajectory has to be understood as strongly related to the modernist values struggling for predominance in the first socialist countries.
Assessments of public administration research in the Global South are relatively scarce, although they are relevant in moving beyond a North–South dichotomy in understanding the knowledge-building process of public administration. In this article, we apply a content analysis to 592 Brazilian publications in order to assess the subjects of the studies, their cognitive orientations, their methodological strategies, and their institutional aspects, and compare these results with previous evaluations of North American publications. Our findings indicate that a "North American way of doing research" is gaining ground as the legitimate way of doing public administration research in Brazil, despite a research agenda that reflects subjects of practical relevance to the Brazilian public sector. Such intellectual mimesis, associated with the existence of a weak and unequal institutional network for academic research, may influence the "parochialism" of public administration research. Points for practitioners The research reveals that the subjects of public administration publications also reflect the dynamics of public administration as a field of practice, reflected in topics of empirical interest to the Brazilian public sector that are cognitively and, partly, methodologically discussed from a North American perspective. The similar trends in the cognitive dimensions that both regions share may also recursively reflect the diffusion of public sector reforms from developed to developing countries, particularly as a consequence of New Public Management, which has also taken place in countries like Brazil.
AbstractRegulatory Impact Assessments (RIAs) are being diffused progressively throughout the world following the recommendations of international organizations. Research has shown that the diffusion of RIA has not produced convergence in actual practices, particularly in developing countries, due to political forces at work in domestic contexts or the available organizational capacities. The Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD) has recently recommended that the Brazilian federal government adopt RIA. This article evaluates how contextual variables, specifically political and organizational ones, influence RIA adoption in Brazil. It is based on field research consisting of semi‐structured interviews with the main stakeholders of the Brazilian regulatory framework. The research explored RIA concept familiarity among stakeholders, the bureaucratic context, the policy process, pivotal stakeholders' standpoints in adopting RIA, and available organizational capacities. Contrary to previous studies in developing countries, the research reveals that strong organizational capacities are not a sufficient factor for successful diffusion of RIA, because political variables can influence divergence among agencies in future RIA practices.
AbstractOver the past three decades the Latin American region has experienced various regulatory reforms, and distinctive normative changes have been introduced in the framework, instruments, or procedures adopted by independent regulatory agencies (IRAs). While there is evidence that the establishment of an IRA positively affects regulated sector performance, little is known about the effects of these additional legal dispositions when incorporated in primary or secondary legislation. However, normative changes may shape IRAs' actual regulatory activities and the signals they send to their stakeholders, potentially influencing sectoral performance. This research traces the evolution of several instruments and procedures legally adopted by IRAs located in Latin America and comprehensively assesses the influence of these normative changes on the performance dimensions of the electricity sector. We built indexes that describe the adoption of specific legal dispositions in the region. These indexes reveal that the evolution of the normative dispositions varies in terms of extent, context, and timing of adoption. In addition, the changes are not equally or even positively associated with specific performance dimensions. While economic regulatory instruments shape many performance dimensions, "soft" procedural dispositions also play an important role in perceptions of quality in the electricity sector.
AbstractReputation is a valuable intangible resource whose role in public–nonprofit collaborations remains unexplored. Does nonprofit reputation influence government funding and nonprofit performance? Does nonprofit performance enhance nonprofit reputational gains? Our identification strategy adopts panel regression methods to assess whether nonprofit reputation influences government funding and nonprofit performance in 675 collaborations between the Brazilian Ministry of Health (MoH) and 60 nonprofit hospitals from 2012 to 2019. Our results indicate that reputable nonprofit hospitals receive more government funding, hire more staff and achieve higher levels of production. This research also suggests a virtuous cycle: Better nonprofit performance leads to nonprofit reputational gains in official rankings. We thus contribute to reputation and public–nonprofit collaboration scholarship by empirically examining the role of nonprofit reputation in public–nonprofit collaborations and identifying mediators of the nonprofit reputation–performance link while responding to calls for more panel data analyses.
The aim of this research is the capacity of association between non profit-making associations and public institutions. To this objetive, we investigate thirteen organizations, belonging to the Organizações Sociais de Saúde (OSS), with the government of the city of Rio de Janeiro. A typology for associations was constructed, which varies according to organizational capacity. The analysis indicates that there are three collaboration's outcomes: synergy, complementarity and implementation. The findings show that the OSS studied show a high degree of organizational capacity and synergy. ; O objetivo desta pesquisa é a capacidade de associação entre associações sem fins lucrativos e instituições públicas. Para este propósito, investigamos treze organizações, pertencentes às Organizações Sociais de Saúde (OSS), com o governo da cidade do Rio de Janeiro. Foi construída uma tipologia para associações, que varia de acordo com a capacidade organizacional. A análise indica que há três resultados da colaboração: sinergia, complementaridade e implementação. Os achados mostram que o OSS estudado mostra um alto grau de capacidade organizacional e sinergia.
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose and test a model to examine how the active management of work-family boundary strength acts as behavioral mechanism through which role-based factors – role demands and role identity – influence the conflict experienced by individuals.
Design/methodology/approach Three studies were conducted to examine the proposed model. Studies 1 and 2 used an experimental design to test the causal effects of role demands on the strength of work and family boundaries, whereas Study 3 surveyed 389 working professionals to test the interactional and mediating effects of the model variables on inter-role conflict.
Findings Results suggest that increasing demands in one domain weaken the boundary strength around the cross-domain to make resource drain possible, which, in turn, increases the conflict experienced in that domain; moreover, results show that work identity reinforces the weakening of the boundary strength at home caused by increasing work demands.
Research limitations/implications The study of boundary management decisions as an underlying mechanism through which individuals' role-based factors affect work-family conflict (WFC) can offer new insights into how to manage increasing work-family responsibilities.
Practical implications This study findings can help individuals to cope with role demands and organizations to promote a culture that supports work-family balance.
Originality/value This paper advances WFC research by examining alternative mechanisms through which role demands influence WFC. Methodologically, the research improves on past studies by bringing together experimental and correlational designs.
In response to the challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, governments worldwide adopted a variety of strategies that include not just preventive or mitigation strategies adopted to "flatten the curve", but also interventions aiming to mitigate economic and social impacts of the pandemic. RAP`s special issue gathered 17 reflexive, timely and relevant contributions of different governmental approaches to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this paper we highlight similarities and differences in governmental responses across countries and regions. We uncover and discuss broad themes covered in the symposium, focusing on: (a) impacts of social distancing strategies; (b) economic-relief responses; c) the role of bargaining, collaboration and coordination across levels of governance; (d) key actors and their role in the pandemic response; (e) pandemic and socio-economic inequalities; and (f) context, policy responses and effectiveness. The symposium adds to an extensive body of knowledge that has been produced on the topic of policy responses to COVID-19 pandemic offering more diverse contextual and comparative analysis. ; En respuesta a los desafíos planteados por la pandemia de COVID-19, los gobiernos de todo el mundo adoptaron una variedad de estrategias que incluyen no solo la prevención y mitigación con miras a "aplanar la curva", sino también intervenciones destinadas a mitigar los impactos económicos y sociales. La edición especial de RAP reunió 17 contribuciones reflexivas, relevantes y oportunas de diferentes enfoques gubernamentales ante la pandemia de COVID-19. En este paper, destacamos las similitudes y diferencias en las respuestas gubernamentales observadas entre países y regiones. Presentamos y discutimos los temas más amplios en debate en la conferencia, enfatizando: (a) los impactos de las estrategias de distanciamiento social; (b) medidas para paliar la crisis económica resultante de la pandemia; (c) el papel de las negociaciones, colaboración y coordinación entre los diferentes niveles de gobierno; (d) actores clave y sus roles en la respuesta a la pandemia; (e) pandemia y desigualdades socioeconómicas; y (f) contexto, respuestas políticas y eficacia. La conferencia forma parte de un extenso cuerpo de conocimiento que se ha producido sobre el tema de las respuestas políticas a la pandemia de COVID-19, que ofrece un análisis contextual y comparativo más diverso. ; Em resposta aos desafios impostos pela pandemia da COVID-19, os governos em todo mundo adotaram uma diversidade de estratégias que incluem não somente aquelas de prevenção e mitigação com vistas a "achatar a curva", mas também intervenções com objetivo de mitigar impactos econômicos e sociais. A edição especial da RAP reuniu 17 contribuições reflexivas, relevantes e oportunas, de diferentes abordagens governamentais frente a pandemia da COVID-19. Nesse paper, destacamos as semelhanças e diferenças nas respostas governamentais observadas entre os países e regiões. Apresentamos e discutimos os temas mais abrangentes em debate na conferência, enfatizando: (a) os impactos das estratégias de distanciamento social; (b) medidas para aplacar a crise econômica decorrente da pandemia; (c) o papel das negociações, colaboração e coordenação entre os diversos níveis de governo; (d) atores-chave e seus papeis na resposta a pandemia; (e) pandemia e desigualdades socioeconômicas; e (f) contexto, respostas políticas e eficácia. A conferência faz parte de um extenso corpo de conhecimento que vem sendo produzido sobre o tema das respostas políticas a pandemia da COVID-19, oferecendo uma análise contextual e comparativa mais diversa.
