Rural workers in Brazil can access old-age pensions five years earlier than urban workers. The objective of this study is to evaluate whether unifying the ages of eligibility among these groups (a measure proposed in the last failed pension reform) makes sense from a comparative perspective, and...

The goal of the study is to evaluate the targeting of the Bolsa Família Programme and its impacts on the reduction of poverty and inequality. To that end, we have used data from the 2001-2015 standard National Household Sample Survey (Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios - PNAD) and...

This research aims to draw a radiograph of the use of evidence by senior bureaucrats of the federal government, from a survey applied between November 2020 and January 2021, with 787 occupants of management and advisory positions (DAS), levels 4, 5 and 6 and related, in organizations of the...

In this paper, we discuss new data on party affiliations within ministries to characterize party-political appointments in high- and mid-level bureaucracy, from 1999 to 2018. We argue that party cleavages within these organizational structures are significant and, to analyze the variation...

The 'Image of the Unsatisfactory Bureaucrat' portrays a mischief as socially and culturally uniform. It gives the impression that the inconveniences, nuisances or frustrations in dealing with State agencies would have a one-cause explanation, i.e., traits of personality or conduct of the...

The goal of this article is to present a theoretical and methodological proposal for analyzing democratic innovations based on science and technology studies and the sociology of public action. The first dimension of the model focus on the initiatives' characteristics by identifying its...

To shape or to choose an appropriate regime of civil service is an old problem. The modern State in the West adopted two regimes in its first experience, the sale of public offices and favoritism. History and situational-strategic analysis derive lessons from that experience. In the first...

This study aimed to trace the chain of relationships between contextual factors and built capacities in order to understand the process of transformations that have impacted the Single Registry for Social Programs (Cadastro Único para Programas Sociais - Cadastro Único) since its creation in...

This text discusses the functioning of the recently created National Council for the Protection of Personal Data and Privacy (CNPD). This collegiate has typical characteristics of both advisory councils, with advisory attributions and subordination to a public authority, and public policy...

The history of the DASP (now extinct) and of the civil service reform in the 1930s shows that as a matter of fact the supposed merit system lacked strength. That is, a large share of the civil servants kept being selected by means of favoritism. Afterwards, in the years up to 1988, favoritism...