Na arena do Poder: as indicações para cargos diretivos nas agências reguladoras no Brasil - a experiência da ANVISA (1999-2019)

Abstract

This dissertation analyzes the director nominations for the collegiate directory at Anvisa and the sanitary regulation policy involved. Theories of regulation and historical neo-institutionalism were used as reference. The period selected for this analysis is between 1999 and 2019, when Anvisa completed 20 years. The scope of this research involved aspects of the Brazilian political system, as well as a brief description of the administration of the presidents when nominating directors for Anvisa. An exploratory and retrospective study was done based on a qualitative and quantitative approach and using multiple data sources. One of the sections of this research involved studying the profile of the nominated directors that composed the collegiate directory at Anvisa, their career paths before and after assuming the position, their political party affiliations and the politicians involved in their nominations, aiming to identify in these candidates characteristics that could compromise their role in the agency within its institutional principles. Another section involves the document research of the Anvisa’s internal policies, as well as a specific section for case studies. The analysis considered the important elements of the selected theoretical approaches, with the intention of identifying strategic actors in Anvisa’s directory during the implementation or not of legal actions. While analyzing the main results of the directors’ profile, it was found that 100% of the directors were acting in the public sector immediately prior to becoming Anvisa’s director. However, a portion of them migrated to the regulated sector after fulfilling their mandate. About 43% of the nominees had political party affiliations prior to their nomination. It was found that the institutional design of the regulating agencies is constantly confronted with the Brazilian political system and pressure groups. Oftentimes, it was possible to identify a political agenda in the directors at Anvisa when assuming the institutional role, confronting government policies and national policies. Although the year of 2020 is not in the scope of this study, the coronavirus pandemic made it evident to the Brazilian public the conflicts and pressures in Anvisa throughout its existence.