Policy Process Frameworks in Practice: Critical Analysis from Brazil and Latin America

This dual function – mirror and bridge – is what gives the book its importance. It is not merely a survey of literature, but it is also an act of consolidation and connection. It shows that Brazilian and Latin American scholarship is not peripheral but central to the evolution of policy process studies. And it demonstrates that the study of applications is not a secondary task but a core component of theoretical development.
Giliberto Capano

The purpose of this book is not to present the analytical models available for policy analysis. There are excellent international articles on this subject (Weible, 2023; Weible & Sabatier, 2017; Peters & Zittoun, 2016) and national works (Brasil & Capella, 2022).
Our approach responds to three main concerns regarding the use of these frameworks: (1) which specific elements or mechanisms they propose to explain the policy process; (2) what they achieve in terms of analytical and explanatory capacity across diverse contexts; and (3) what findings and main limitations emerge from their applications.
There is a long-established tradition in which “theories” are developed in the Northern Hemisphere, with researchers in the South merely applying them to empirical research. We expect that this book achieves its main goal: fostering discussion of these theories and contributing to greater analytical and methodological accuracy across the frameworks available for public policy research. With this, we hope to develop more precise tools capable of producing causal explanations for the phenomena we observe through our lenses.
Natália Sátyro, André Marenco, Mariana Batista