The Instrument Constituency in the Political Subsystem of Brazilian Vocational Education

Elisabete Corcetti

doi:10.5539/par.v9n1p39

Abstract

The instrument constituency is a component of the political subsystem dedicated to the articulation and promotion of particular types of solutions. Simons and Voss (2018) say that instrument constituencies are neglected political forces in national and transnational policymaking, advocating for more research to understand how these networks of actors emerge and their role in the political process. The aim of this work is to analyze how this type of network forms and interacts in the policy subsystem, exploring the case of the program Mulheres Mil. This is a qualitative research and it was based on the transdisciplinary proposal, which discuss with the principles of the critical discourse studies of Fairclough, combined with the model of multiple streams of Kingdon and its relation with the actors of the policy subsystem. The data used in this study were collected through: selection of the corpus of analysis; critical reading; and identification of the sections most relevant for the analysis. The corpus of analysis consisted of an interview with one of the creators of the program Mulheres Mil, and of the project Mulheres Mil in the Northeast region. It was concluded that the instrument constituencies and the groups of defense collisions refer to two distinct levels of political reality, which interact in search of different interests and objectives. In this interaction, political entrepreneurs are key elements for certain solutions to have prominence in the policy process, bridging the different networks of actors and the government.

Highlights

According to Simons and Voss (2018), the concept of instrument constituencies was first introduced by Voss (2007) as a component of the political subsystem dedicated to the articulation and promotion of specific solutions, regardless of the context of problems tackled in the political agenda
The corpus of analysis consisted of an interview with one of the creators of the program Mulheres Mil (PMM), and of the project Mulheres Mil in the Northeast region
The political entrepreneur is a key-agent in this interaction process, facilitating that specific solutions prevail political process, bridging the gap between the government and the different interest groups

Summary

Introduction

According to Simons and Voss (2018), the concept of instrument constituencies was first introduced by Voss (2007) as a component of the political subsystem dedicated to the articulation and promotion of specific solutions, regardless of the context of problems tackled in the political agenda. The concept was resumed and used by Voss and Simons (2014) when arguing that the instruments are networks of interrelated practices, called instrument constituencies. Beland and Howlett (2016) point out the need for additional case studies outside the field of environmental policy, to verify the effectiveness of the instrument constituency concept and its usefulness as part of a broader framework. This framework should better describe and explain the policymaking activities in comparison to existing models of political subsystems. It helps to analyze how this network of actors relates, in practice, to other actors in the subsystem, such as epistemic communities and advocacy coalitions

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Conclusion