How Brazil and the USA Compare in Social Policies

 

The analysis of public policies and programs in the United States is as ancient

as the practice of public policy-making (Munger, 2000). The Federalist Papers may be considered the most conspicuous illustration of a comprehensive examination of potential public policy. Nevertheless, the utilization of "expert analysis" to assess the efficacy of public policies and initiatives is a relatively recent development (Munger, 2000). A scientific approach to the study of public policy can be traced back to the mid-twentieth century, as per DeLeon (2006:39). Generally, the academic discipline known as the study of public policy was derived from the policy sciences approach, according to the majority of sources. The policy sciences approach has been predominantly attributed to the work of Harold D. Lasswell, who wrote in the late 1940s and early 1950s. His essay "The policy orientation," which served as the opening chapter of Lasswell and Daniel Lerner's The Policy Sciences, was the most prominent expression of this approach...The policy sciences orientation was explicitly dedicated to the rigorous application of the sciences to issues that impact governing and government. The recent demand for a comprehensive examination of American public policy and programmatic responses was a direct result of the extensive mobilization of public resources during the Second World War.

The practicality of applying scientific methods to the systematic analysis of large quantities of data was established in the post-war period with the emergence of electronic data computation. At the same time, there was a growing emphasis among scholars of social, political, and economic phenomena on the rigorous application of the scientific method, particularly in the context of quantitative analysis, to the examination of societal issues. The War on Poverty during the Johnson presidency served as an incentive for the ongoing expansion of policy analysis and the development of evaluation research as a distinct discipline within the social sciences (DeLeon, 2006; Munger, 2000; Rossi, Lipsey and Freeman, 2004). In the United States, policy analysis and evaluation research have been prominently featured in the fields of education, research, and political and public administration since the 1960s. The academic and practical domains of policy analysis and evaluation research have been consolidated in graduate-level courses across a variety of social science disciplines. University, private nonprofit, and for-profit organizations employ research teams to conduct policy analysis and evaluation research projects. These teams also work for legislative bodies, instruments of public administration, philanthropic entities, and advocacy groups. Policy analysis and evaluation research are acknowledged and supported by a diverse array of professional associations. Consequently, this article is predicated on the premise that policy analysis and evaluation research are well-established components of the public policy and administration landscape in the United States (DeLeon, 2006; Lynn Jr., 1999; Munger, 2000; Rossi, Lipsey, and Freeman, 2004).

In contrast, this discipline in Brazil is quite recent

The Luiz Inácio da Silva (Lula) administration (2003-2010) implemented numerous social policy initiatives, including the establishment of a new constitution in 1988 (Montero, 2005; Sugiyama, 2013; Vaitsman, Ribeiro and Lobato, 2013). Consequently, there has been an increase in the awareness of the necessity of employing social science methodologies to evaluate the performance and consequences of public policy and programming in Brazil. This article's fundamental premise is that policy analysis and evaluation research are not yet utilized to the same extent in Brazil as they are in the United States, despite the fact that they are increasingly utilized in Brazilian public policy and administration (Capobiango et al., 2011). The study presented here is a continuation of the work of Capobiango and colleagues (2011) and Vaitsman, Ribeiro, and Lobato (2013), who have both described the burgeoning field of public policy analysis in Brazil. In order to accomplish this, we employ bibliometric analysis methodologies to compare the research practices of public policy analysis and evaluation in the United States and Brazil. In particular, we compare articles that have been published on the subject in the academic journals of the two countries within the past decade. Specifically, we anticipate that the Brazilian policy analysis and evaluation research literature will be biased in this direction during the 10-year period covered by the analysis, given the emphasis on the development of social policy in Brazil since the establishment of the 1988 constitution and, more specifically, during the period beginning in 2003.

The effort to map the characteristics of the field of evaluation research in the two countries is justified by the relative lack of comparative research on the practices of public administration involving Southern hemisphere countries and the importance of this field of research for improving practice in countries like Brazil that are engaged in strengthening their institutional arrangements. The comparison considers the following variables: objectives, areas of research, the type of articles (e.g., empirical, theoretical, or theoretical/empirical), the type of data (quantitative or qualitative), the sources of data (primary, secondary, or primary/secondary), and the institutional affiliation of the authors. The paper is divided into the following sections: literature review, methods, results and discussion, and final considerations, in addition to this introduction. Evaluation research, known as public policy analysis or program assessment, is a collection of instruments that not only illustrate issues or suggest solutions to those that have been identified, but also indicate the necessary modifications that could result in improvements to policies and programs (Bechelaine and Ckagnazaroff, 2014).

The evaluation of policies, programs, and government plans is not considered an end in itself

but rather a critical instrument for enhancing the efficiency of public expenditure, quality management, and social oversight of the efficacy of government actions (Ceneviva and Farah, 2012). Ramos and Schabbach (2012) assert that there is no definitive definition of evaluation research. In order to ascertain the efficiency, effectiveness, impact, sustainability, and relevance of a completed or ongoing policy, program, or project, all definitions refer to the systematic and objective examination of its performance, implementation, and results (Costa and Castanhar, 2005). The objective of evaluation is to provide information that can enhance public decision-making by involving value judgments on the policy implemented. It necessitates the establishment of the criteria to be adopted and the assessment of the set of attributes or characteristics of the policy or program. Efficiency, effectiveness, efficacy/impact, coverage, technical and scientific quality, user satisfaction, and fairness are frequently employed criteria. The analyst must take into account the policy or program's scope in addition to the definition of evaluation criteria. Does it encompass a service or system? Is its service area local, municipal, regional, or national? The policy or program's target population must also be explicitly defined (Costa and Castanhar, 2005).