Formulação de Políticas de Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação em Nível Subnacional: Isomorfismo e Aderência às Realidades Regionais

Abstract

Title: Formulation of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) policies at Subnational Level: Isomorphism and Attachment to Local Realities The aim of this work is to discuss the formulation of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) policies at a subnational level. The paper is based upon a discussion about the issues associated with the formulation of subnational STI policies and a comparison of the procedures adopted in the Brazilian states. It is argued that state governments tend to replicate each other when formulating their STI policies, even if this isomorphic behavior hinders the attachment of the proposed policies with the different local realities. The isomorphic behavior is credited to (i) the necessity of justify the propositions at several different levels of validation; (ii) the lower level of autonomy state governments enjoy (when compared to national governments) to implement their propositions; (iii) the higher level of uncertainty associated to the results of STI policies; and (iv) the adjustment of subnational institutions to federal ones as way of increase their possibilities of getting more resources. Some policy implications of this paper are: (i) subnational governments should try to match the largely accepted trends to their local realities when formulation their strategies of intervention; (ii) subnational STI policies should be permanently validated by all the affected stakeholders; and (iii) partnerships between local governments and the federal governments should be reinforced in order to decentralize the application of resources.