Stability and Change in Industrial Policies in Brazil: A Public Policy Perspective

Resumo

After a two-decade hiatus, three distinct industrial policies were implemented between 2003 and 2014 during the Workers' Party governments. However, industrial policy faded from the public agenda under the presidencies of Temer and Bolsonaro. The premise of this research posits that industrial policies can be classified as public policies, and we ask: why were industrial policies mainly absent from the public agenda in the 90s, with a revival between 2003 and 2015, only to drop again from the public agenda afterwards? To investigate this pattern of stability and disruption, we have employed the punctuated equilibrium theory, as this model tries to explain both possibilities. Our research adopts a qualitative approach, employing interviews with 26 participants who were directly involved in those policies. Industrial policies existed as an issue within the subsystem (both preceding and following the Workers' Party governments). However, during these periods, there was no clear institutional framework to coordinate the programs and instruments or mediate the interests of the private sector. Besides, measures were diminished in scale. When industrial policies reached the macrosystem and the public agenda during the Workers' Party governments, they were accompanied by both a general guideline and embedded measures with broader scope and magnitude.