New development: Public governance in the discursivity of the Brazilian government—a reflection on conceptual reduction

IMPACT

This article presents a topic of relevance to public management research communities in non English-speaking countries. The principal argument is the concept of ‘sociological reduction’. The article addresses aspects related to the translation and critical assimilation of foreign concepts in social sciences. The authors illustrate the argument by showing how Brazilian authorities got lost when translating the term ‘public governance’ into the Brazilian legislation, treating it as synonymous with ‘corporate governance’ and ‘good governance’. This article will help researchers and policy-makers in maintaining terminological cohesion and facilitating the legal application of foreign concepts.

ABSTRACT

This article discusses some conceptual aspects of the governance policy of the Brazilian federal public administration and the repercussions of this legislation in its organizational structure. Through the theoretical lens of sociological reduction, the article demonstrates the modification of the essential conceptual elements of public governance. A limited understanding of public governance led to elements of ‘corporate governance’ being combined with ‘good governance’. The consequence was the creation of standard one-size-fits-all governance committees to deal with federal public administration in Brazil, without an understanding of governance in a broader perspective.

Keywords:

• Brazilian public governance policy
• corporate governance
• good governance
• public governance
• sociological reduction

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).