Public Policy in Democratic Backsliding How Illiberal Populists Engage with the Policy Process

This book examines the impact of democratic backsliding and populist governments on the public policy process. Drawing on case studies from the USA, Brazil, Hungary, Mexico, Poland, Turkey, and the Philippines, it assesses how elected populist governments have eroded policy capabilities and dismantled state apparatuses responsible for making and implementing policy. The book offers a unique perspective into democratic backsliding through a public policy lens, and considers why, when and how policy processes change as a result of populist governments. Numerous policy issues are analysed throughout the volume, including environmental, health and economic policies. It will appeal to all those interested in public policy, democracy studies, and public administration.

Chapter 1. The policy process in democratic backsliding: a proposed framework of analysis (Michelle Morais de Sá e Silva).- Chapter 2. Democratic backsliding and the policy agenda: losing interest in, and capacity for, the future (B. Guy Peters).- Chapter 3. Political governance: conceptualizing the governance style of illiberal politics (Zsolt Boda).- Chapter 4. Populist drift in Poland (Jolanta Itrich-Drabarek).- Chapter 5. The political economic sources of policy non-design and the decay in policy capacity in Turkey (M. Kerem Coban).- Chapter 6. Dismantling science and technology policies in Mexico ( Wietse de Vries).- Chapter 7. Dismantling policies through (de)mobilization of analytical capacity: cases from Brazil (Natália Massaco Koga).- Chapter 8. Dismantling while accumulating: dynamics of local participatory institutions in the Philippines ( Kidjie Saguin).- Chapter 9. Democratic public action in times of crises: examining the resilience of Brazil’s food and water policies (Carolina Milhorance).- Chapter 10. Capacity-building, dismantling strategies and resistance tactics in Brazilian environmental agencies: changes in Ibama’s authority and nodality tools from 2004 to 2022  (Carolina Stange Azevedo Moulin).- Chapter 11. Action and reaction: how bureaucrats cope with different forms of political oppression (Gabriela Lotta).- Chapter 12. Do you love me? The effects of budget cuts on intrinsic motivation during the Trump administration ( João V. Guedes-Neto).- Chapter 13. Democratic backsliding and administrative responsibility: seeking guidance for bureaucratic behavior in dark times (Michael W. Bauer).

Michelle Morais de Sá e Silva is Associate Professor of International and Area Studies at the University of Oklahoma, USA.

Alexandre de Ávila Gomide is Tenured Researcher at the Institute for Applied Economic Research, Brazil.