Resumo em Inglês:

In this study, we explore novel data concerning party affiliations within ministries to characterize political-party appointments in high and mid-level bureaucracy from 1999 to 2018. We argue that party cleavages within these organizations hold significant importance. To scrutinize the variance among ministries, we propose an index of intra-ministerial party fractionalization. By emphasizing the distinction between party politicization and fractionalization as separate dimensions that vary significantly among ministries, our argument underscores the importance of intra-ministerial party cleavages in understanding government dynamics and the relationship between federal Executive power and Legislative branches. Furthermore, we contend that paying attention to political-party divides within each ministry has been an overlooked dimension in the analyses of governmental processes and Brazilian coalition presidentialism. Nevertheless, it stands as a pivotal factor for success in navigating relations with the Legislature and identifying hurdles to effective governance of federal public policies.

Resumo em Inglês:

This article looks into the explanatory dimensions of social services governance in São Paulo and Belo Horizonte. It considers the vertical axis of the interconnections between levels of government and the horizontal axis of interactions between state and non-state actors. We argue that it is necessary to advance in integrated explanations on how these multilevel interactions restructure local governance patterns over time in order to fill a gap in the literature on multilevel governance. Cases are compared based on the triangulation of methods: literature review, document analysis, and in-depth interviews. We argue that four dimensions are essential to understand the effect of the intersection between axes: 01. municipal political organization; 02. mobilization of policy communities; 03. civil society actors’ profile and work; 04. types of state capacities. Our case analysis reveals, in São Paulo, a pattern that is less constrained by federal rulemaking and more focused on conflicts between civil society organizations (CSOs) and bureaucratic actors, and highly dependent on local political dynamics and ways of building regulatory capacities. In Belo Horizonte, in turn, we observed a greater influence of federal rulemaking and greater weight of policy communities, which are constantly mobilized to build capacities for policy provision, and not only for the regulation of services.

Resumo em Inglês:

Studies on patronage and politicization typically focus on the dilemma politicians face when recruiting public personnel. Politicians must choose between appointing loyal allies to implement policies or party members to garner political support. The term politicization typically emphasizes the political facet of the public bureaucracy. Through an integrative literature review, this paper aims to provide new insights into the concept of patronage and its relationship with the politicization of bureaucracy. The paper introduces findings from an intensive literature review of publications on patronage, bureaucracy, and politicization. A search was conducted for texts published between 2000 and 2022 on Scopus and Web of Science. Through a qualitative content analysis, 144 texts discussing the concept of patronage were read and coded to identify theories, frameworks, and measurement methods. The results indicate that the research literature tends to overly emphasize the role of political parties in the distribution of public offices. In contrast, this paper proposes a reconceptualization of patronage, highlighting the power of other stakeholders, such as interest organizations and social movements. It advances the research agenda by proposing a new typology that scholars might employ in comparative studies.