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This research aims to develop a critical-reflexive analysis of entrepreneurship in public administration based on two significant works of Alberto Guerreiro Ramos: ‘The sociological reduction’ and ‘The new science of organizations.’ The research is qualitative, based on bibliographic, documentary data, in-depth interviews, online questionnaires, and direct observation. The results show that the challenges present in the context of study indicate that small municipalities can present fertile ground for the development of entrepreneurial practices. The analyses have also shown that the main deficiencies of the small towns are the managers’ lack of training, the lack of effective articulation with the federal level, the lack of an environment capable of fostering proactivity and participation, the financial crisis, and the necessary behaviors and arrangements. A huge gap for the development of effective businesss practice is the loose coordination of the Union, states and cities, which is a historical feature of the country.

The literature on policy entrepreneurs has mainly focused on high-level decision-makers, ignoring low and middle-level bureaucrats. However, in light of their close position to citizens and the nature of activity, some recent works have been linking street-level bureaucrats (SLBs) with policy entrepreneurship. They highlight the use of entrepreneurial strategies by SLBs to influence policy via implementation practices and/or policy design. Immersed in a broad network that provides health services to children and women in all three levels of health assistance, Viva Vida Centers' (CVV) SLBs are in a very similar context to those normally approached in literature. Thus, this works main objective was to investigate the engagement of SLBs within CVVs Viçosa and Manhuaçu in entrepreneurial strategies to shape policy through implementation practices and/or directly influence policy design. Data collection was carried out through semi-structured interviews with bureaucrats Cvvs Viçosa and Manhuaçu. The results report the case of CVV Manhuaçu's former manager (I3). The case is chronologically divided into two distinct moments, considering the policy process literature. In the first moment, the manager of CVV Manhuaçu from 2010 to 2017, prompted by a lack of guidance for implementation and a high level of discretion, framed problems, planned processes, diffused her vision and actively led her team, successfully outlining the Center’s prototype, securing smooth implementation through consolidating strategies. Years later, when when a top-down change in policy struck, leaving hundreds unassisted, she ultimately acted to reinsert the issue of sexual violence and abuse victims into the official government agenda, aiming to promote policy change at the isntituciinal level. It is argued that the use of entrepreneurial strategies can increase the chances of success for street-level bureaucrats in influencing policy outcomes, thus it is important to promote proactivity among the street-level bureaucracy, and place at their reach, political and governance instruments for political participation, once just favorable personal traits might not enough sometimes. Keywords: Entrepreneurship. Policy Entrepreneruship. Street-level bureaucracy. Street-level policy entrepreneurship. Policy process. Policy change.

Tomando como objeto de análise o contexto dos Estados Unidos e do Brasil, esta pesquisa analisou como o federalismo pode impactar as estratégias, velocidade e o grau de respostas políticas ao enfrentamento da COVID-19, mesmo quando os líderes do governo federal compartilham uma retórica pública que não conduz a uma rápida atuação. A identificação das medidas adotadas por diferentes níveis de governo dos Estados Unidos e do Brasil até o final de abril de 2020, sugere que o arranjo federativo favoreceu a geração de respostas políticas mais ágeis à pandemia, pois as ações que não foram adotadas pelos governos nacionais foram promovidas pelos entes subnacionais. Todavia, é sugestivo pensar que enquanto os integrantes do sistema federalista não se apoiarem mutuamente, deixando de lado as divergências ideológicas e partidárias dos respectivos governantes, as respostas à pandemia permanecerão fragmentadas e em tempos diferentes. Palavras-chave: Administração púbica; federalismo; pandemia; respostas políticas.

A discussão sobre como determinadas questões tornam-se problemas públicos e emergem na agenda governamental é primordial para a compreensão das políticas públicas e da vida política de um Estado. A fim de modelar a escolha organizacional para entender o processo de agenda-setting, Kingdon elaborou o Modelo dos Múltiplos Fluxos. O presente estudo buscou compreender a agenda-setting, evidenciando a importância da mesma no cenário político. Como resultado, ressalta-se que a criação e aplicação do Modelo de Múltiplos Fluxos fizeram com que a agenda-setting ganhasse formas, tornando possível identificar suas etapas decisórias e os agentes envolvidos, adicionalmente, o modelo ajuda a entender o papel das ideias neste processo, fornecendo uma visão menos funcionalista e técnica de um processo farto de complexidades e contingências.