scholarly journals The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the performance of street level bureaucrats in Brazil

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriela Spanghero Lotta ◽  
Giordano Morangueira Magri ◽  
Ana Carolina Nunes ◽  
Beatriz Soares Benedito ◽  
Claudio Aliberti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Justice System ◽  
The Public ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Care Access ◽  
Structural Problems ◽  
Health And Social Care ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Government Level

Abstract: Dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic requires that the State make hard decisions that involve the action of bureaucrats who interact with the population through the implementation of public policy, the street-level bureaucracy (SLB). In this paper, based on a mixed- method exploratory study, we analyze how the daily performance of street-level bureaucrats in different policy areas- health and social care, access to the justice system, public security and education - has changed during the pandemic. We also explore the repercussions of those changes. Based on the analysis of the perceptions of bureaucrats, changes in their work and in their relationship with the public, we identify three categories that illustrate the dynamics of SLB work during the pandemic: the SLB who faces the crisis on the front lines; the SLB who suffers the effects of the pandemic, but whose work does not require her to face it directly; and the SLB who began to work remotely. We conclude that, during the pandemic, SLB suffered in varying degrees an aggravation of structural problems, such as their removal from decision-making processes - now restricted to the highest government level - and the exacerbation of already existing conflicts and ambiguities.

Policy Refiners and Street-Level Lesson Learners

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alastair Stark
Keyword(s):  
Policy Evaluation ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats ◽  
Central Level ◽  
Government Level ◽  
Inquiry Lesson

This chapter explores agents who are influential in terms of inquiry lesson-learning but have not been examined before in inquiry literature. The key argument is that two types of agent—policy refiners and street-level bureaucrats—are important when it comes to the effectiveness of post-crisis lesson-learning. As they travel down from the central government level, street-level actors champion, reinterpret, and reject inquiry lessons, often because those lessons do not consider local capacities. Policy refiners, however, operate at the central level in the form of taskforces, implementation reviews, and policy evaluation processes. These refiners examine potentially problematic inquiry lessons in greater detail in order to determine whether and how they should be implemented. In doing so, these ‘mini-inquiries’ can reformulate or even abandon inquiry recommendations.

An “adhocracy” of stakeholders, the case of ADSA in France (Essonne)

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phillipe Naszalyi ◽  
Arnaud Slama-Royer
Keyword(s):  
Free Market ◽  
Public Funding ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
The Public ◽  
Structural Problems ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Hybrid Management ◽  
French Association

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the structural problems emerging in the course of managing and safeguarding a French association for home care to a thousand elderly or disabled people between 2007 and 2012, employing 150 - 190 people and on the verge of bankruptcy. In France, small local businesses not only compete with major capital outlets in this sector but also with associations of varying size and origin. Free market rules apply, under the legislation of 2003, to what is, in part, “competition free”, being “in the public interest” and within the framework of local and national public funding. Design/methodology/approach – This paper analyses those pragmatic solutions put in place to meet the aim of shared governance and in the context of a generalized financial crisis. Findings – Borrowing from cooperatives and associations, the non-profit-based management structure the authors arrived at, including worker participation in the decision-making processes, raises questions for researchers as to the advisability of any short-term models and the validity of present social and supportive economic models. Originality/value – The hybrid management of this paper is offered as a working model in what the authors have termed an “adhocracy of stakeholders”.

scholarly journals The Impact of Social Capital on Satisfaction with National Policy

2009 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-223
Author(s):  
Park Soon Ae ◽  
Hwang Duk Yun
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
National Policy ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Networks ◽  
Local Government Level ◽  
Citizen Perceptions ◽  
Political Demonstrations ◽  
Online Debate ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Government Level

This study analyzes the impact of social capital on national policy satisfaction in Korea. Although social capital has been investigated in previous studies, most of them have been limited to the local government level. This study concerns national policies and uses data from the 2007 Survey of Citizen Perceptions of the Public Sector. In total 1,200 people responded from across the country. Using factor analysis, social capital factors were extracted: participation in political networks, participation in nonpolitical networks, trust in others, and altruism. Trust in others was statistically significant to all levels of policy satisfaction; however, other variables were significant only to certain policies. Unexpectedly, participation in political networks, by means of political demonstrations and online debate, was not significant with regard to satisfaction with any policy.

scholarly journals Public agents of front line: the creator of administrative law

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliana Bonacorsi de Palma
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Administrative Law ◽  
Front Line ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Action ◽  
Street Level ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats

<span>Abstract: The role of the front-line public agents in the implementation of the public policies created by the first-tier is the subject addressed by the author. From the notion of street-level bureaucrats, it seeks to identify the difficulties encountered by such public agents in decision-making and the need for standards that provide for institutes and administrative dynamics that in fact lead to more efficient, impersonal and guaranteeing public action to protect the well-intentioned front-line public agent to fully exercise the discretion he needs in case-by-case action.</span>

Evaluation of Toll Options with Quick-Response Analysis Tools: Case Study of the Capital Beltway

2003 ◽  
Vol 1839 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick DeCorla-Souza
Keyword(s):  
Decision Makers ◽  
Response Analysis ◽  
The Public ◽  
Analysis Tools ◽  
Project Construction ◽  
Local Decision ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Local Decision Makers

Analysis tools in current use in transportation decision-making processes are not well suited for evaluating toll highway alternatives against more traditional free highway alternatives. How existing analysis tools might be used in evaluating toll options was examined. A case study demonstrates that relatively simple analytical procedures may be used to estimate the impact of pricing alternatives and to generate information for use by local decision makers. The case study also demonstrates that pricing alternatives often can accomplish the purpose of a major highway project more efficiently and more effectively than conventional alternatives that exclude pricing, while generating revenue to support bonds for project construction or to fund improved transit and paratransit services. With toll revenue to back bonds, project delays due to constrained funding can be avoided, and the public can be provided with superior mobility earlier and at lower public cost.

Social workers’ perceptions of the causes of poverty in the Nordic countries

2013 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helena Blomberg ◽  
Christian Kroll ◽  
Johanna Kallio ◽  
Jani Erola
Keyword(s):  
Social Workers ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Nordic Countries ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Street Level ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Municipal Level ◽  
Causes Of Poverty

Street-level bureaucrats have been given an increasing role in the implementation of policies aimed at the poor. The article analyses: (1) how social workers in the Nordic countries explain the causes of poverty and whether there are variations between countries in social workers’ perceptions; and (2) the nature of the impact, if any, of various individual- and municipal-level factors on social workers’ perceptions of the causes of poverty. Survey data gathered from social workers in four countries are analysed and combined with data from the municipalities in which the respondents work. The results illustrate that social workers display a surprisingly large variation in perceptions: there are differences between countries and also differences related to individual-level factors, while municipality-level factors do not appear to influence the perceptions of social workers in an obvious way.

scholarly journals Modification of Public Policies by Street-Level Organisations: An Institutional Work Perspective

2016 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 709-728 ◽  
Author(s):  
ERIC BREIT ◽  
TONE ALM ANDREASSEN ◽  
ROBERT H. SALOMON
Keyword(s):  
Pension Reform ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Managerial Control ◽  
Institutional Work ◽  
Retirement Pension ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats ◽  
Heuristic Device ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe literature on policy implementation is divided with regards to the impact of street-level bureaucrats on the implementation of public policies. In this paper, we aim to add to and nuance these debates by focusing on ‘institutional work’ – i.e. the creation, maintenance and disruption of institutions – undertaken by central authorities and street-level bureaucrats during public reform processes. On the basis of a case study of the organisational implementation of a retirement pension reform in the Norwegian Labor and Welfare Administration, we argue that institutional work is a useful heuristic device for conceptualising the variety of responses available to street-level bureaucrats during public reforms. We also argue that the responses demonstrate the impact of street-level bureaucrats in these reforms in the context of managerial control and regulation. Finally, we argue that the effectiveness of policy change is dependent on the institutional work of street-level bureaucrats and, in particular, on institutional work that supports the institutions created by politicians and public administrations.

On the drivers of BNDES credit to Brazilian state governments

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 283-302
Author(s):  
Paulo Rogério Faustino Matos ◽  
Jaime de Jesus Filho
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
State Governments ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Brazilian State ◽  
National Economic ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This paper aims to address the discussion on the credit disbursement of US$28.6bn from Brazilian National Economic and Social Development Bank (BNDES) to Brazilian state governments during the period from 2009 to 2014. They try to identify the main drivers of the credit allocation in both cross state and time. Design/methodology/approach The authors use a dynamic balanced panel to estimate the role of technical and socioeconomic variables. Findings The results suggest that the states’ need for financing via BNDES exhibits neither inertial nor explosive behavior. The authors find an efficiency elasticity of this resource of 0.20. In addition, the impact of a positive change in the state fiscal status leads to an increase of 2.5 per cent in the indebtedness capacity. Finally, they find that wealthier states are more successful in demanding credit from BNDES. Practical implications This analysis of resource allocation is useful for modeling the determinants of international financial institutions as central planners. The authors also invite researchers to discuss the decision-making processes that characterize the federative pact in Brazil. Originality/value Although a burgeoning body of literature has examined the role of BNDES as a creditor institution for firms, its relationship with the public sector, in special subnational governments, has been rarely studied.

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