Diffusion of Policies, Practices and Social Technologies in Brazil

Abstract

It is a welcoming introduction to the Brazilian academic community the arrival of the book 'Public Policy Diffusion', edited by Professors Faria, Coêlho and Jard da Silva.As it is stated in the opening pages of the book, the use of diffusion models is very incipient in Brazil in comparison to the level of knowledge accumulation in the international literature, especially in the USA. In this sense, it is an admirable effort to gather together ten chapters not only discussing the dissemination and adoption of public policies but also presenting a diverse collection in terms of perspectives and models possible to be used as an analytical reference.But, in my view, this book could also be read as attempted explanations for the adoption of policies, practices and ideas in the Brazilian case. With the exception of the first chapter (by COÊLHO), which discusses analytical tools of this literature, nine out of the ten chapters include Brazil in their analysis, either as a single case or in comparison to other Latin American countries and worldwide. Although it is not the purpose of the editors, I could not avoid making connections among chapters thinking about possible general findings for the Brazilian case, which I will discuss further on.For the unfamiliar reader, the phenomenon of policy diffusion could be summarized in the following puzzle: why and how some policies get to be considered as 'good practices' and adopted by other governments?Let us first say that diffusion or transference of policies is not something new in ___________________________________________________________________________ * http://dx