Descentralização. advocacy e políticas : a atuação das coalizões de defesa em mudanças institucionais na(s) política(s) de saneamento básico

Abstract

This study investigates the processes of change in public policies in decentralized political systems such as Brazilian federalism, especially the role of defense coalitions, through their operation or coordinated action to influence or induce such institutional transformations. The general objective of this thesis was to carry out, through a case study, an in -depth analysis of how defense coalitions are able to undertake changes in the status of public policies through coordinated actions in subsystems that coexist and share the same theme at different levels of public governance, an important exercise to understand specific dynamics of the federative model, with emphasis on triple Brazilian federalism. The research question that guided this work was "gow are the arrangements of Brazilian federalism capable of altering the dynamics of decentralized public policy changes and, consequently, reconfiguring the efforts necessary for entrepreneurs of such changes to succeed?". Thus, the study resorted to elements of studies on federalism, delegation and federative coordination, gradual institutional change and the Advocacy Coalition Framework to build a theoretical framework capable of structuring an appropriate investigation. The main hypothesis of this research is that when defense coalitions operate on decentralized systems, where political change needs to reach more than one level of decision or governance, the veto point number and dispute arenas is increased, and consequently such changes are difficult, requiring more complex and better structured strategies than in unit systems. In order to test this hypothesis, it was necessary to develop a robust case study on Brazilian basic sanitation, with two levels of policy analysis within the sector –– at the federal level, with the approval of the new legal framework of sanitation, and in the state of Rio de Janeiro, with the concession of water and sewage services to the private initiative through the auction of CEDAE –– which had bibliographic and documentary research, reconstructing the historical trajectory of subsystems. National and Fluminense Basic Sanitation, investigating its main actors and coalitions, their belief systems and coordinated action mechanisms, as well as the complementary interviews. Thus, the validity of the hypothesis presented was concluded, demonstrating that, in addition to the change in policy at the federal level, in order to ensure the objective of institutional change (the concession), the political articulation of the Privatist Coalition with multiple level actors, the changes in PPPs, LNSB and PPI, and the disarticulation of the opposition was necessary as a consequence of the exogenous shock of the sanitary emergency of Covid-19.