The State has had defined functions for centuries and, in a general view, its main function is to ensure the maintenance of spaces, organs, among other institutions and collective actions. Over time, these concepts have evolved and, in the post-war period, societies demanded and needed the State to pay more attention to social problems, acting through Public Policies that sought to meet the particular needs of society.
In Brazil, the promulgation of the 1988 Federal Constitution brought with it an important challenge: to promote the guarantee of rights of Brazilian citizens. With the vote of the Constituent Assembly, which resulted in the formulation of the Citizen Constitution, and the advent of the democratic process, after the end of the Military Regime, the Brazilian State was tasked with promoting the development of activities that benefited society, through public policies.
Therefore, public policies came to provoke social change through the articulation between political actors and society. Next, we will present its concepts and types, seeking to clarify the process of creating and analyzing public policies.
What is public policy?
The definition of public policy extends to the justification of the purpose for which a given project is being carried out. Thus, a public policy aims to provide a solution or confrontation to a social problem. With this in mind, we can deepen our knowledge about the term, understanding the processes of the public policy cycle and the role of those involved:
Lima and D’Ascenzi (2018, p.39) list as the first step, identifying and interpreting the needs of the population. At this moment, mutual organization and cooperation between actors will be necessary to have knowledge of population demands.
The second aspect is related to the objective proposed with the formulation of the policy, thus promoting the partnership of those involved for the implementation of actions aimed specifically at solving the social problem in question. Then, discern about the values and ideas of the policy, specifying the various possible understandings with the resolution of the cause.
The fourth point establishes the maximum involvement of political actors. It is here that there will be a conflict of ideas in which each agent will seek to expose their interests with the implementation of resources, whether financial or not, allocated to the project.
Finally comes the moment of project execution and promotion of social change, where the allocation of available resources for project implementation and future combat against the problem in question will occur.
Public policies can be seen as a set of articulations between society actors and political actors with the ultimate goal of promoting the Social Welfare State, mainly through the application of resources. Furthermore, actions that are not taken by the State must also be seen as public policies, as they are actions guided by a political and strategic positioning. (Faria apud Tude, Ferro and Santana, 2015)
Now that we know the process of creating and implementing a public policy, how about we dive a little deeper and understand its types and objectives?
What are the types of public policies?
After understanding what public policies are and their origin, we will discuss their types. Lowi apud Lima and D’Ascenzi (2018, p. 50) brings a more analytical view of their content to the discussion of public policies, seeking to explain the way political actors articulate themselves in the various styles of policies built in the arena.
From there, 4 types of public policies are classified:
- Distributive: These are policies that target specific groups but involve society as a whole, as they are funded by diffuse costs. In general, discussions about distributive policies are less conflictive among social groups, so the process is concentrated in the hands of decision-makers. An example of this type of policy is the Brazilian Social Security.
- Regulatory: These are policies that establish criteria, rights, and duties for private and public services. Here, the process is more conflicting, therefore being a plural construction of political actors, society and other actors who may be involved, such as bureaucrats. An important example of this type of policy is the Traffic Code.
- Redistributive: These are also policies with a specific target audience, but with costs concentrated in other groups, that is, one actor must lose for another to gain. Therefore, they are very conflictive arenas; after all, the clash of interests is a hallmark of this type of discussion. Such as, for example, the occupation of unused private spaces.
- Constitutive or meta-policies: These shape the space of political dispute and the construction of public policies, and regulate actions in the political arena, such as how voting should take place, etc. An example could be the Federal Constitution that regulates the entire arena of government actors.
It is important to point out that this typology established by Lowi in 1972 has criticisms in the academic world, but they were established seeking to be useful in the processes of analysis and construction of public policies, being able to contribute to ex ante and ex post evaluations, and that today is widely used in the available analyses.
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This article was written in partnership with Equalitas UFMG Jr, Junior Consulting of the Public Management course at the Federal University of Minas Gerais. Learn more about Equalitas clicking here
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References:
AGUM, Ricardo; RISCADO, Priscila; MENEZES, Monique. Public Policies: Concepts and Analysis in Review. Agenda Política Magazine, vol. 3, n. 2, 2015.
TUDE, João; FERRO, Daniel; SANTANA, Fabio. Public Policy Management. 1st Edition. Curitiba: IESDE Brasil S/A, 2015.
LIMA, Luciana Leite; D’Ascenzi, Luciano. Public Policies, Urban Management and Local Development. Porto Alegre: Metamorfose, 2018.
