Abstract
This work analyzes Brazilian public managers' perceptions, exploring the values and opinions of those that have decision-making powers in the government's administration, emphasizing their views about the State's role and about their own profession. Understanding the ambitions and attitudes of federal public managers may help to address how they perceive their multitudinous roles and the influence they have in decision-making processes. Moreover, this paper contributes to a broader discussion about government bureaucracies in the Global South, using Brazil as a valid example. The specificity of the Brazilian case is addressed, as the highest bureaucratic positions in the country are appointed jobs. Utilizing data from a survey conducted in 1993 and another conducted in 2013, this paper concludes that there is no consensus among Brazilian public managers if politicians' or technicians' qualities should be more valued when occupying public management positions. It is also seen that most of the public managers interviewed had more polarized political opinions. The idea that public officials prefer to have ideologically neutral and strictly technical opinions to exercise their job does not apply to the Brazilian reality. Moreover, public managers' perceptions tend to be in accordance with the State's national acting guidelines, corresponding to the political ideology in power at the time.
Published Version
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