Distribution of public offices, political context, and Brazilian presidentialism: an institutional analysis of the discretionary system

Abstract

This paper analyses the development of the discretionary system of bureaucratic positions in Brazil. On the one hand, the research literature relates the allocation of public offices to the coalitional presidential system. On the other hand, this literature pointed out initiatives aiming to professionalise the bureaucracy and strengthen state careers. In this context, the presidential dilemmas refer to choosing between seeking support from the coalition by appointing party members and controlling public policies by nominating individuals aligned with the president’s preferences. In this article, theories of institutional change are the main theoretical framework for analysing the progression of rules on appointments to public offices and their impacts on the portraits of nominees. Through a case study of Brazil, the paper assesses the congruence between theoretical predictions and empirical evidence regarding the relationship between institutions and the distribution of public sector posts. The methodology comprises bibliographic research, documental analysis, and descriptive statistics. The documentary search concentrated on the rules regarding the presidential coordination bodies and compulsory percentages of appointed career civil servants. The results demonstrated that the laws were not effective as federal public bodies did not comply with the rules. Furthermore, the quantity of career civil servants in discretionary public offices was already high before the establishment of compulsory percentages. The role of coordination bodies varied across the different administrations. Despite the centralisation of presidential power, evidence points out that public managers are partially free to choose their staff and only sometimes comply with the legal requirements. Thus, the conclusions reinforce the need to include informal institutions in further analysis. Besides promoting a contextual description of Brazil, the paper contributes to theory-testing and theory-building on the relationship between institutions and the distribution of public offices.

bureaucracy; positions; institutions; presidentialism; Brazil