The politics of Brazil's access to information policies: history and coalitions/A politica nas politicas de acesso a informacao brasileiras: trajetoria e coalizoes/La politica en las politicas de acceso a la informacion brasilenas: trayectoria y coaliciones

• Published in: Revista de administração pública (Rio de Janeiro) 2020-01, Vol.54 (1), p.142
• Main Author: Rodrigues, Karina Furtado
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0034-7612
• DOI: 10.1590/0034-761220180369x

How did the various legislative initiatives on access to information in Brazil culminate in the 12.527/11 federal law? Using the Advocacy Coalition Framework, this article analyzes the agenda setting and strategies of different coalitions, analyzing a broad array of news, interviews, laws, and official documents between 2001 and 2012. Two coalitions were identified: one in favor of changes in legislation, comprised of sectors of the Executive, legislative, the media and civil society; and another in favor of the maintenance of restrictive rules of access to information, composed of Armed Forces, Itamaraty (Brazil's diplomatic corps) and the Senate's Legislative Commission on Defense and Foreign Affairs. The article also identifies an overlap of two public policy subsystems: the transparency subsystem and the reconciliation one. The latter monopolized the public debate on the subject, contributing to the slowness in approving a transparency law. Itamaraty also emerges as the author of a strong lobby against changes in the rules for document classification, for reasons yet to be studied. Keywords: access to information; advocacy coalitions; agenda setting. Como as diversas iniciativas legislativas sobre acesso a informacao no Brasil culminaram na aprovacao da Lei n. 12.527 (Lei de Acesso a Informacao [LAI], 2011)? A partir da abordagem de coalizoes de defesa (advocacy coalitions framework--ACF), este artigo analisa a formacao de agenda e a atuacao de diferentes coalizoes, por meio da analise de amplo clipping de noticias, entrevistas, leis e documentos publicados entre 2001 e 2012. Foram identificadas duas coalizoes: a) uma a favor de mudancas na legislacao, composta por setores do Poder Executivo, do Poder Legislativo, da midia e da sociedade civil; e b) outra a favor da manutencao de regras restritivas de acesso a informacao, composta por Forcas Armadas, Itamaraty e Comissao de Relacoes Exteriores e Defesa Nacional (CRE) do Senado. Identificou-se, tambem, a superposicao de dois subsistemas de politicas publicas: a) o de transparencia; e b) o de reconciliacao. Este ultimo monopolizou o debate publico sobre o tema, contribuindo para a morosidade na aprovacao da LAI (2011). O Itamaraty tambem emerge como autor de forte lobby contra modificacoes nas regras de classificacao de documentos, por motivos ainda a explorar em profundidade. Palavras-chave: acesso a informacao; coalizoes de defesa; formacao de agenda. ?Como las diversas iniciativas legislativas sobre a