Brazilian Policy Agendas Project

Abstract

The objective of this research project is to map Brazilian recent governmental agenda, to allow the monitoring and analysis of changes in government priorities. More specifically, the research encompasses the federal Executive and Legislative Branch and seeks to identify the issues on the agenda over the period from 1995 to 2014 (the two Cardoso administrations, two Lula administrations and the first Dilma Rousseff administration). The research design proposes the combination of a longitudinal study (the study of a single issue in the agenda over the selected period) and transversal study (study of multiple issues present in the agenda at a given moment). Thus, the study will allow in-depth investigation of changes in a specific public policy over time and, at the same time, observation of the broader dynamics of the issues on the agenda and the changing in the topics considered relevant by the government. To do so, we should establish a set of agenda indicators - elements sensitive to variations in government attention. In line with the international literature, this project is based on indicators related directly to the Executive Power and presidential attention (through documents such as speeches, Annual Message to Congress, "medidas provisórias", Union budget) and the Legislative Branch (legislation enacted, constitutional amendments, supplementary laws, ordinary laws, delegated laws, legislative decrees and resolutions). For the analysis of the data, the research will be based on the techniques of content analysis and a codebook that reflects the main public policies. This is an essential effort to understand the policy process in Brazil. The research results will allow the emergence of new questions about Brazilian politics, the specificities of the public policies process in the country, the possibilities of social participation in the formulation of public policies, patterns of changes in public policies, among other aspects. In addition, the research will be articulated with an international research network on government agenda (Comparative Agendas Project - CAP). More than twenty countries take part in this research network thus making it possible to carry out comparative analyzes. (AU)