This paper proposes an analytical and empirical shift to identify the meanings that state actors mobilize regarding social participation. It innovates by focusing on the perceptions of bureaucrats about participatory institutions and by proposing the dialogue between two sets of literature: the approaches of Participatory Institutions (PI) and of the Sociology of Public Action (SPA). From the former, it takes up the debate on the meanings of participation, while from the latter it takes on an understanding of bureaucrats as […]

Regulatory agencies possess the particularity of being controlled by non-elected politicians whose power is derived from delegations made by incumbent powers. There exists, however, a concern with the creation of institutional mechanisms that permit public participation, thus guaranteeing greater democratization and social control of the regulatory process. One of these participatory mechanisms is the public hearing, which was not given much attention by Brazilian literature on lobbying and interest groups. This article seeks to contribute to fill this gap, focusing […]