The fifth issue of RAP 2019 demonstrates consistent results of the journal’s internationalization strategy, presenting five international articles from Portugal, Chile, Colombia, and Paraguay. Rosa Monteiro and colleagues analyze gender issues in public organizations, examining trends on gender stereotyping in highly masculinized organizational contexts. Marcelo Sili studies municipalities in Paraguay, analyzing the styles and logics of territorial actions. Antoine Maillet and Sebastián Carrasco include the concept of private actors’ business power within regulatory analysis showing the weaknesses in regulating the public transport system in Santiago as consequence of the public authorities’ inability to impose preferences. Ana Carina Azevedo makes a historical analysis of the process of public administration reform in Portugal considering various international factors and national demand for economic and social development. Finally, Maria Alejandra Gutiérrez Fonseca and Alejandro Balanzó Guzmán analyze the challenges of the General Royalty System to transforming the territorial management environment in Colombia.
The other articles published in this issue analyze the Brazilian context, addressing two cross-cutting themes: partnerships between governments and civil society organizations and assessments regarding the national conditional cash transfer program Bolsa Família. Patricia Mendonca, Anny Medeiros, and Edgilson Tavares de Araujo analyze partnership models by comparing the policies adopted in the areas of health care focused on HIV/AIDS, social services, and culture. The article presents excellent insights contributing to improving public policies. Lindsay Sant’Anna and colleagues establish connections between the concept of collaborative governance and the theory of communicative action, to coordinate practices of communicative collaboration between the state and society.
The articles assessing the Bolsa Família program bring different perspectives on this public policy. They become part of the collection of other studies RAP has published over the years on the program and demonstrate the relevance of the conditional cash transfer initiative in Brazil. Carlos Barbosa Correa Junior, Leonardo Nelmi Trevisan, and Cristina Helena Pinto de Mello analyze the impacts of the program on the formal labor market of Brazilian municipalities, indicating a positive association. Marcelo Neri and Manuel Camillo Osorio offer another evaluation of the program, relating Bolsa Família to time spent in school, and reasons for student drop out or low attendance. In the last of the three articles on Bolsa Familia program published in this issue, Cristiane Kerches da Silva Leite, Francisco Fonseca, and Bruna Holanda change the spectrum of analysis, focusing on images and narratives about Bolsa Familia in the mainstream press. The authors formulate categories of images (handouts, insufficiency, electoral marketing, and populism) and conclude that there is a disconnection between the narratives created by the mainstream press and a public feeling favoring the program and its impacts, as demonstrated by various assessments the program has gone through (including, the other two assessments published in this fifth issue of RAP).
Finally, it is important to highlight the significant participation (even though not majority) of female authors in the articles published in this issue. As observed in one of the articles here, the expectation is to increase practices of gender equality in markets where male employees present a higher education level, such as in academia. However, the academic circles are still expressively masculinized, and the obstacles challenging female researchers are posed on daily bases. There are also other factors that influence practices that reduce diversity in academia, and these factors require continuous reflection.
We wish you all a pleasant read!
Alketa Peci
Editor-in-chief
Publication Dates
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Publication in this collection
11 Nov 2019 -
Date of issue
Sep-Oct 2019
