Introduction

Particularly since the mid-20th century, there has been a growing trend worldwide to value knowledge as the bedrock of public decision-making. It is thus increasingly necessary for public decision-makers to have access to the results of good research. This need is reflected in a consensus on the idea that public policy analysis can contribute to offering solutions to collective problems. Accordingly, there is growing appreciation for research on this subject, and mounting demand for professional qualification in public bureaucracies.

The need to produce knowledge for public decision-making has loomed large in the state-building process in a number of countries – and Brazil was no exception. Activities to produce knowledge bearing on public policies, especially under the authoritarian regime installed in 1964, were conducted only in specific institutions of state. As Brazil had adopted a federative system, such institutions were initially set up by the federal government, and only later spread to various state governments. During the 1980s, public policy analysis began to become established in the universities, in theory, offering the prospect of producing research that was more critical of the government and greater freedom in selecting theories and methods (Melo, 1999).

This chapter examines the presence in the policy analysis field in Brazil of state government agencies that produce policy-related information and knowledge. The chapter takes a broad view of public policy analysis, spanning both studies from the 1960s, which embodied generalist approaches related to the agenda of the developmentalist state and to government planning, and studies produced from the 1980s on, focusing on specific policy areas and subjects connected with reform of the state (Melo, 1999). Our point of departure is that the role played by state agencies, although differing in importance in the context of the Brazilian federation, is both considerable and under-researched. This chapter will discuss the context in which these institutions emerged and their nature, their institutional format, general aspects of their evolution, and salient features of their role in producing and spreading information and knowledge about conditions in the state and about government activities.

Emergence and evolution of state policy analysis agencies

The federative system has fundamental implications for policymaking. In such a system, decision-making authority is distributed among the territorial spheres of government.