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This article draws from recently developed frameworks for the analysis of complex, boundary-spanning policy problems to consider the response of the Brazilian government in the initial stages of the novel coronavirus pandemic. The timeframe selected for analysis covers the first 12 weeks after the first confirmed case in the country. Analysis is focused on government coordination, including major policy measures such as a constitutional amendment and provisional presidential decrees, and on the role of discourses in policymaking. Findings indicate that the Brazilian government failed to respond properly to the pandemic and did not steer public action toward collectively accepted goals. Further consideration raises the question as to whether the government tried to halt the spread of the virus;an analysis of the ideology embraced by the national-populist political coalition suggests that the dehumanization of political enemies is a strategic alternative. Conclusions argue that the dehumanization of the other is a viable strategy for the government and suggest that the pandemic crisis is part of a continuum of crises that calls for a reframing of societal choices and political-economical design in Brazil and elsewhere.

This study applies the “Narrative Policy Framework” (NPF) to the affirmative action policy process of the Federal University of Pelotas (UFPEL) and proposes theoretical intersection between the NPF and agenda setting literature, seeking to find out the role of policy narratives in policy processes. NPF is an empiric-oriented framework that posits that the policy-makers’ stories have generalizable components and are built and crafted in accordance to their ideas. These are policy narratives, and are at the center of the policy process. By analyzing formulation stages of public policy and referring to ideas and narratives, the NPF refers to the agenda setting literature and provides means for empirical research of agenda setting concepts. The study undertook analysis of regulatory outputs and semi-structured interviews. Findings indicate that policy narratives have affected institutional regulatory outputs regarding UFPel’s affirmative action policies.

Este é um artigo teórico, de cunho exploratório, no qual apresenta-se revisões das principais teorias da literatura sobre formação de agenda e de estudos que as aplicam em casos concretos no Brasil. O objetivo é realizar uma aproximação da literatura sobre formação de agenda com o ambiente da formulação de políticas públicas no país. Busca-se promover mais conhecimento sobre a utilização dos modelos revisados no contexto brasileiro e identificar pontos de congruência, visando assim suprir a lacuna referente à utilização destes modelos no contexto brasileiro. Conclui-se que conceitos das abordagens em questão, como imagem de política, janela de oportunidade e empreendedor de políticas podem ser utilizados para analisar a formulação de políticas no Brasil. A principal limitação deste artigo é a base de dados limitada, pelo qual não se pretende apresentar resultados taxativos. Novos estudos poderão trazer contribuições ao revisar outros casos e outras teorias sobre formação de agenda.