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...

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...

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...

It is useful to acknowledge at least four facets of bureaucracy. And bureaucratic management has a few general characteristics, such as professionalism of the officers, organizational subdivision and a complex system of registers. Administrative procedures aim at effectiveness by applying the...

Many public policies seek to promote, maintain, modify or improve collective actions. The development of a country requires actions that are complex and wide in scope. This and following texts sort out: i) two general classes of problem-situations that lack collective action; and ii) kinds of...

The intention of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 is to inform and to provide guidance to some public policies. This Working Paper points out some shortcomings of the Study, both as to method and as to usefulness for national policies, by means of a critique of the formation of the...

This paper expounds an introductory conception of organized crime, resorting to a few elements of conceptual, economic, institutional and strategic analysis. It seeks to build a preliminary overview of a social phenomenon, leaving out the perspectives of law and legislation. Discussing meanings...

Problems of collective action are at the roots of several public policies and, as shown in this text, there are many mechanisms and tools to be used in order to solve those problems. Although three groups of mechanisms and tools have not been stressed in the usual debates of public policy, they...

The problem of coordination concerns how to make actions or choices of social agents (individuals or organizations) match in the right way. Some problems of coordination are also problems of separation. In many cases of lack of coordination, communication is faulty or not very reliable....

In the last few years, many Brazilian firms have been strongly interested in programs of compliance as well as in programs of integrity. These matters are also relevant to government offices of inspection and control of public sector activities as well as to offices of regulation of economic...