O processo de agenda-setting na reforma da administração pública

Abstract

This thesis aims to analyze the process of policy formulation for public management reform during Fernando Henrique Cardoso s tenure (1995-2002), while grasping the scope within which this issue gave rise to national State Reform. To this end, we have used agenda-setting theoretical models that highlight the dynamics behind the ideas and the symbolic representation surrounding policy making, as well as empirical data garnered from the main state publications released during this period. Agenda-setting was studied in terms of the principal line of thought on Brazilian government and public administration, by analyzing the definition of the problems as presented by the government and the solutions chosen by the creators of reformist policy. These ideas, jointly with the analysis of political and institutional structures during the Cardoso government, allow us to understand how this issue rose in importance until they became a component of the government s agenda.