Public Administration and Brazilian Coastal Management: Reformism and Late Modernity

Abstract

The complexity and dynamics of changes in public administration structures and their management mechanisms can be causes of turbulence and increased uncertainty in the different fields of government action. This article seeks to analyze the possible effects of these institutional movements on plans and structures aimed at Brazilian coastal management, seen as an integral part of the public policies established for planning and management in this field. The methodological approach developed is descriptive and interpretive, with qualitative data that try to characterize the National Coastal Management Program (GERCO) from the stages of a public policy cycle, observing the presence (or absence) of elements of each model of administration in its development. The result of the analysis concludes that GERCO was conceived and implemented in a context of hybridism of bureaucratic, managerial, and societal administration models. Furthermore, this hybridism can be recognized in different ways when we look at each stage of the political cycle. Elements of bureaucratic administration became evident mainly in the elaboration of the program (PNGC I), and through hierarchies in the organization of competences for coordination and the constitution of technical instruments without the participation of social actors, other than specialized non-technicians. The management model is present in all stages of the cycle, from the perception of the problem to the implementation phase of the policy and its instruments. A strong hybrid between the managerial and the societal model stands out, right after the regulation of PNGC II, with the incorporation of the need to improve the quality of management with more participation and action by civil society actors. The cycle assists in the systematization of information about the GERCO structure and shows a weakness in the steps of enforcing in practice the instruments that aim to ensure the planning and conservation of coastal spaces. It is believed that this study contributes to the understanding of the relationship between coastal management and the Public Administration that holds it and determines its directions. It is in the intricacies of the PA, with its potentialities and anachronisms, that the conditions (favorable or not) for the development of the cycles of this public policy (PP) are established, which overlap in spasmodic movements, benefitting more planning stages than the implementation of instruments. and processes related to coastal zone management. Keywords: Coastal management, Public administration models, Public policy cycle, National Coastal Management Program, Brazilian public administration.