Policy Analysis in Brazil: A Comparison of Rationalist and Argumentative Approaches

Abstract

The objective of this essay is to present an overview of policy analysis as a practice and field of knowledge in Brazil. The paper compares the rationalist (positivist) and argumentative (postpositivist) approaches for prescriptive policy analysis. The paper portrays the development and practical use of policy analysis at federal, state and local levels of government, among the executive and legislative powers, in think tanks, and across different policy areas. The institutionalization of the field is also discussed in terms of the establishment of scholarly associations and conferences, scientific journals and graduate education in policy analysis in Brazil. The paper claims that (a) the academic field of policy analysis lacks consolidation in Brazil, and the very term “policy analysis” (análise de políticas públicas) is mostly used to describe theoretically oriented policy research; (b) rationalist policy analysis is mainly used in some “pockets of modernity” at the federal level of government; (c) Brazil has a rich experimentation of participatory mechanisms for argumentative policy analysis through participatory mechanisms at all levels of government. The essay concludes with some directions to build policy analysis capacity in Brazil, in theory and practice.