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Brazil was one of the most successful examples of state-led industrialization in the post-1945 era. Yet the Brazilian bureaucracy is very fragmented, personalized, and ad hoc. Turnover is high, all policy-relevant positions are subject to political appointment, and officials spend only a short time in positions for which they often lack expertise. How can such a state function, let alone foster rapid economic transformation? To solve this riddle, Ben Ross Schneider looks beyond the traditional models of organizational behaviour and bureaucratic politics. To explain when and why the Brazilian bureaucracy contributes to industrialization, he analyzes career patterns and appointments which structure incentives and power more than formal organizations or institutions. Politics and personalism, of the right sort, can in fact enhance policy effectiveness and state capacity. Using a survey of the careers of 281 high officials and case studies of four major industrial projects in the 1970s and 1980s (including Acominas and Carajas), Professor Schneider opens up the black box of the state. This empirical work aims to help revise prevailing interpretations of Brazilian authoritarianism. His alternative careerist approach challenges conventional theories in the comparative study of bureaucracy.
Cook et al. (Fri,) studied this question.