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This article analyzes urban governance innovations in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, focusing on the role of these innovations within the wider political management strategy of the executive leader. These innovations, all of which utilize digital information and communication technologies, are important elements within a leadership and management strategy. The article explores the role of digital innovations within the broader strategy of the mayor’s use of managerial tools as means to strengthen control of the city’s governance. Though presented as an apolitical management style of “what works,” this form of management is also deployed to enforce contentious political decisions with substantial implications for the social fabric of the city. This article offers an analysis of the political role and implications of urban governance and public service innovations that are often presented and analyzed in purely instrumental and apolitical ways.

This piece describes the creative process behind the sales tax incentive program known as Nota Fiscal Paulista, and the current strategies employed by the state government of Sao Paulo to enforce the payment of this tax by retailers. It illustrates how public administrators often enjoy great autonomy to create new strategies for regulation, no longer having to limit themselves to issuing commands backed by punitive sanctions. This creative space, however, may be limited by different factors, which have led to a policy of incremental policy implementation­­­­­.