Public management reforms in Brazil: innovations, paralysis, and setbacks in the last 25 years

he chapter departs from the analysis of the last coordinated and comprehensive effort of public management reform in Brazil, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2020. It then discusses the trajectories of public administration during this period. Firstly, these processes were more influenced by incremental changes than macro-structural reforms (wholesale). Secondly, innovations in transparency and information access, multilevel governance, social participation policy, and public procurement have moved towards expanding institutional and social control and reflect the alignment with international trends in the era of public governance or post-NPM. Lastly, institutional changes in structure and functioning were marked by the hybrid character of the trajectories, with layering predominated but also coexisted with other change types, such as drift, conversion, and displacement. The chapter confirms its central argument that the Brazilian public sector is characterized by advances and innovations but also by paralysis and setbacks.

CAVALCANTE, P. Public management reforms in Brazil: innovations, paralysis, and setbacks in the last 25 years. In: Shaun Francis Goldfinch. (Org.). Handbook of Public Administration Reform. 1ed.Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd., 2023, v. 1, p. 373-389. Chapter 20: Public management reforms in Brazil: innovations, paralysis, and setbacks in the last 25 years in: Handbook of Public Administration Reform (elgaronline.com)