Braz. political sci. rev.2026;20(1):e0005.

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Policy Advice in Brazil: Sources and Uses of Policy Knowledge in a Federal Presidential System

Natália Massaco Koga , Pedro Palotti , Miguel Loureiro , Virginia Rocha

DOI: 10.1590/1981-3821202600010005

Abstract

In this paper, we analyze the dynamics of policy advisory systems and the use of policy knowledge in contexts characterized by weak institutionalization and limited influence from Anglo-American models of policy advice, such as Brazil. We synthesize findings from a large research project carried out between 2019 and 2024, which combined two large-N surveys of Brazilian federal bureaucrats (conducted in 2019 and 2021) with six case studies across diverse policy areas. We examined the selected cases – spanning health, environment, social welfare, public security, management, and infrastructure – through document analysis and 40 in-depth interviews with policy advisers conducted in 2022, aiming to understand how bureaucrats access and apply knowledge in their work. Three main findings stand out: 01. different sources of information are relevant in the development of policy knowledge; 02. in most cases, internal sources produced by the bureaucracy itself are the most visible, with bureaucrats acting as translators, stabilizers and legitimizer of knowledge within the state apparatus; and 03. oversight bodies, such as audit offices and the judiciary, have gained growing influence by providing analyses and issuing binding recommendations. Together, these findings challenge conventional paradigms of policy advice.