| The structuralist approach is based on the historicity, dynamicity and totality of the Marxist dialectic. It is a systemic theory that allows the understanding of human praxis. From this Marxist matrix, Gramsci4040 Gramsci A. Maquiavel, a política e o Estado Moderno. Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira; 1980. develops the concept of extended state, that is, one that accommodates, besides political society, civil society as part of the State. The former is underpinned by the set of mechanisms through which the ruling class holds the legal monopoly of coercion, those usually identified as government. On the other hand, civil society is set as a decisive arena of the class struggle, in which different social groups fight to preserve or achieve hegemony. |
| Micro-power - Foucault4141 Foucault M. Microfísica do poder. Rio de Janeiro: Edições Graal; 1979. |
| Poststructuralist Foucault shows ways of exercising power different from that exercised in the apparatus of the State and whose operation resembles a network of molecular micro-power that extends across society. |
| Governmental agenda - Kingdon4242 Kingdon JW. Agendas, Alternatives and Public Policies. United States of America: Addison-Wesley Longman; 1995. |
| The process of setting the governmental agenda, anchored in the public policy cycle theory, articulates three flows, that of transforming a question from the social environment into a problem, that of selecting solutions directed to this problem, and the political influences involved in the inclusion of the problem on the government agenda. Kingdon argues that policy-making and implementation decision-making process is influenced by the involvement of various actors who take advantage of a timely situation to pressure the government to include issues on the political agenda. This understanding is linked to the neo-institutionalist approach whose concern is to analyze the relationships between the State, society and policy formulation, in particular, to explain how institutions develop political strategies and influence political outcomes. |
| Institutional analysis - Instituting/instituted - Lourau and Lapassade4343 Lourau R. A Análise Institucional. Petrópolis: Vozes; 1975. |
| The dialectic instituting (process) and instituted (form) is useful to analyze situations of institutionalization. In the case of the analysis of institutionalized participation, this perspective is marked by tensions to acquire more participation and strategic social and institutional innovation. While the former mainly includes participatory directionality and governmental conduct compatible and coherent with the reasons, modes and means of direct and indirect democracy, in the latter, the figurative performance of social control and the direction of government is autonomous, operating with its agenda and dissociated from the participation levels prevails. |
| Critical moment - Collier and Collier4444 Collier D, Collier R. Shaping the political arena. Critical junctures, the labor movement, and regime dynamics in Latin America. Princeton: Princeton University Press; 1991. |
| It is defined as a critical moment, a period of a significant change whether it is revolutionary or caused by institutional reform, which can last years or even decades; it is a situation of political or economic transition that occurs differently between countries, states, regions or cities. This process of change leaves a legacy that leads politicians to successive choices and decisions over time, in order to reproduce this legacy. |
| Social groups’ theory - Olson4545 Olson M. A lógica da ação coletiva: os benefícios públicos e uma teoria dos grupos sociais. São Paulo: EDUSP; 1999. |
| The theory is anchored in the logic of collective action and seeks to respond to what leads individuals to associate and remain associated. To answer this question, Olson started from the perspective of collective rationality, considering that if everyone cooperated, everyone would win. However, as this does not always happen, individuals act rationally by measuring the costs and benefits of their collective actions in organizations or groups. Therefore, a contradictory relationship is formed between an individual and collective rationality. This approach of social groups is embedded in the theory of rational choice that presupposes that individuals deliberately act to maximize their advantages. |
| Motivational Theory - Maslow4646 Maslow AH. A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review 1943; 50:390-396. |
| This theory starts from the perspective of psychology and seeks to identify the motives that lead an individual to have a participatory behavior in order to find solutions to collective problems. According to this theory, motivation is the result of stimuli coming from the (external) environment or generated internally in the mental processes of the individual (internal) that act forcefully on individuals, leading them to action. |
| Theory of Communicative Action - Habermas4747 Habermas J. Teoria da la Acción Comunicativa. Madri: Ed. Taurus Humanidades; 1987. |
| Communicative power consists of the possibility of forming political will based on the communicative action of individuals and, thus, can pressure institutions to incorporate demands into their agenda. The communicative action is expressed in an environment in which the participants involved have an equal condition to manifest their opinion, without any coercion. The decision is based on the consensus or the possible agreement on the best argument and its legitimacy is based on the possibility of all interested parties to participate in the communicative process. Communicative action rests its conceptual matrix on the critical theory of the Frankfurt school. |
| Power in health - Testa4848 Testa M. Pensamento estratégico e lógica da programação. O caso da Saúde. São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro: Ed. Hucitec; 1995. |
| From a contribution more geared to health, the author analyzes the actual use of power resources within organizations, distinguishing three forms of power in health, namely, the technical, administrative and political power. Technical power can be understood as the capacity of an actor to manipulate and use information (epidemiological, sanitary, administrative). Administrative power is when the actor can manipulate resources (human, financial, technological, administrative) and political power consists of the ability to mobilize social groups. |
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Source: Own elaboration.