Policy dismantling by capacity manipulation in a context of democratic backsliding: The bureaucracy in disarray in Bolsonaro’s Brazil

Abstract

The policy dismantling framework was developed to account for processes involving the reduction or termination of existing policies, especially in the so-called advanced democracies. However, is the model proposed by policy dismantling scholars applicable to contexts of democratic backsliding such as Bolsonaro’s Brazil? Do those contexts offer new elements to their analytical model? This article addresses those questions by analyzing the case of Brazil under President Jair Bolsonaro. Departing from research on policy dismantling recently conducted in Brazil and based on data collected with federal civil servants from 2019 to 2021, it will be argued that the mechanics of policy dismantling in Brazil involve not only the reduction and elimination of past policies but also the manipulation of policy capacities. At the individual policy capacity level, that process has involved mistrust and contempt for career civil servants, fear, and bureaucratic reshuffling, whereby bureaucrats were either removed from their original positions or resorted to exit in fear of persecution. The intimidation and disarrangement of the federal bureaucracy in Brazil appears to be an integral part of capacity manipulation, shedding light into what policy dismantling looks like in contexts of democratic backsliding.