Actors, epistemic communities and policy change: analysis of the solid waste policy in Guarulhos (SP)

Abstract

This article analyzes the formulation and implementation of the solid waste policy in the city of Guarulhos, with an emphasis on the political process of disputing ideas, interests and instruments of public policies between political actors, epistemic communities and public managers. This research problematizes how the municipality of Guarulhos was a pioneer in the development of the Municipal Solid Waste Plan. The objective was to articulate analytical categories of public policy making to discuss the political role of a network of actors from the solid waste epistemic community in the change of policy in Guarulhos. Through the analysis of secondary data (bibliographic research) and primary data (decrees, laws, minutes of meetings and interviews with strategic actors), it is possible to verify the process of changing the image of the solid waste policy, especially regarding the issue of civil construction waste disposal, through the transfer and learning of specialists acting as political actors in the subsystem of this policy.