What Makes Bureaucracies Politically Resilient? Evidence from Brazil’s Covid‐19 Vaccination Campaign

Abstract

This article sheds new light on the drivers of bureaucratic resilience in the face of presidential attacks, an understudied but politically salient topic. Scholars have long shown how political advocacy can protect bureaucracies from presidential attacks on policy regulation. We argue, however, that advocacy is insufficient to defend bureaucracies against attacks on policy implementation, which occurs largely outside the formal political arena. Through a case study of Brazil’s successful Covid‐19 vaccination campaign, we call attention to two additional forms of support for agencies under attack–resource provision and social activism–that come into play during the implementation phase of policy. In conjunction with political advocacy, resource provision and social activism bolster bureaucracies under attack by filling in where other forms of support fall short.