Translating ideas into action: Brazilian studies of the role of the policy entrepreneur in the public policy process

Abstract

Over the past decades, research on policy formulation, especially research on agenda-setting, has demonstrated that the actions of individuals (or groups) labelled 'policy entrepreneurs' constitute a central aspect of the public policy process. Agenda-setting theoretical models (John Kingdon's multiple streams model and Baumgartner and Jones's punctuated equilibrium theory) view those actors from different perspectives, stressing different features of their role in the policy process. Both models consider the policy entrepreneur an essential actor in their explanations of policy maintenance or change. In Brazil, although the study of public policy has experienced periods of strong expansion during the past decades, there is still a lack of detailed data on the application of such models and the role of policy entrepreneurs in such analyses. This paper aims to present and discuss the centrality of policy entrepreneurs in agenda-setting models by analysing this important actor and the limits and contributions of this conceptualization for understanding the policy process. In addition, this research analyses the central role of the policy entrepreneur and presents empirical findings of Brazilian policy studies, thus highlighting implications regarding the concept for these three theoretical approaches.

The adoption of care policies in Costa Rica: A multiple streams approach

“…Other studies in the region take elements of the MSA to analyze policy processes. For example, Gonçalves Brasil and Niedhardt Capella (2017) find that policy research in Brazil tends to focus on the role of policy entrepreneurs (a key element of the MSA) to explain policy change.…”

A threat-centered theory of policy entrepreneurship

“…They build networks to gain allies, resources, and influence over political elites Huitema and Meijerink, 2010;Roberts & King, 1991). Policy entrepreneurs figure prominently in many leading theories of the policy process, facilitating the coupling of problem, politics, and policy solutions (Multiple Streams Framework; see Cairney, 2018), helping shape and advance policy images in order to create and maintain policy monopolies (Punctuated Equilibrium Theory, see Brasil & Capella, 2017), and propelling inter-jurisdictional policy diffusion (Stone, 2019;Vallett, 2020).…”

Integration between women’s and men’s football clubs: a comparison between Brazil, China and Italy

“…Zhou and Feng 2014), Europe (e.g., Richardson 2001) and South America (e.g. Brasil and Capella 2017). More specifically to the area of sport, the MSF has been utilised to explore sport policy processes at the level of local authorities (King 2009) and in the physical activity promotion domain (Piggin and Hart 2017).…”