Street-level bureaucrats in the eye of the populist storm? Lessons from municipal transitions of power

• Grant number: 24/08453-9
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: January 01, 2025
• End date: December 31, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Administration - Public Administration
• Principal Investigator: Gabriela Spanghero Lotta
• Grantee: Gabriela Spanghero Lotta
• Principal researcher abroad: Steven Van de Walle
• Institution abroad: University of Leuven, Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium
• Host Institution: Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo (EAESP). Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 25/05875-2 - Street-level bureaucrats in the eye of the populist storm: Lesson from municipal transition of power, BP.PD

Abstract

Both Brazil and Flanders have local elections in 2024, that are likely to result in several localexecutive politicians such as mayors, vice-mayors and aldermen from far-right populist partiesassuming their position for the first time in 2025. To implement their policies, they rely on municipalcivil servants. Such transitions in political power may disrupt the existing dynamics of political-administrative relations. It remains an open question what the impact of newly elected executivepoliticians from populist parties will be on street-level bureaucrats and how mutual expectations andpolitical-administrative collaboration will develop. This project uses repeated interviews with localpoliticians and civil servants in municipalities about mutual expectations and experiences, in order tostudy learning and coping behaviors. It will also collect and analyze positive and negative criticalincidents among street-level bureaucrats about their interactions with the new executive localpoliticians. (AU)