Diffusion of Good Government: Social Sector Reforms in Brazil by Natasha Borges Sugiyama (review)

Sugiyama’s timely first book moves beyond both institutions and a national level of analysis to explain how good models of governance in two social policy areas, health and education, were diffused nationwide within the context of Brazilian politics. Using an innovative approach that is actor-focused and employs multiple methods, the author examines, tests, and compares factors that drove the diffusion of good governance models at the municipal level: political self-interest (pure rationality), ideology (abstract principles), and socialized networks, both professional and community-based. The two in-depth case studies of Bolsa Escola and Programa Saúde da Família were chosen by the author because each of these social programs began as a unique idea at the local level in the 1990s and was later emulated by local mayors and policy makers throughout the country. The two programs make a nice contrast, given the differing levels of complexity in the health and education sectors and the different rates of diffusion that the author observes.

The book’s more abstract goal is to establish that human behavior, and more importantly the human behavior of Brazilian politicians, is not guided solely by self-interest. By using variables such as electoral competitiveness, geographical and ideological proximity, and social networks, Sugiyama is able to flesh out the alternative explanations offered by theories of policy diffusion to generate a new theory of the motivational determinants of local social sector diffusion (p. 152). Here, I think the author’s goal obfuscates the real value of the book’s contribution—which is an extensively researched bird’s-eye view of how “good” social sector reforms that were equity-enhancing occurred in Brazil during the last two decades, contributing to the emerging hypothesis of its good governance.

This book of six chapters begins by situating itself within the specific debates of Latin American scholars since democratization. Chapter 1 highlights some of the unique and important institutional and historical circumstances that created an opportunity for innovative policy at the subnational level. Sugiyama then takes a more theoretical turn in chapter 2, examining the specific debates on policy diffusion. The author does not situate herself within what has been referred to as Weyland’s (2006) mid-level theorizing; instead, Sugiyama advocates a more normative framework where ideology (here defined as decisions driven by abstract maxims regardless of self or other; p. 36) and social networks (defined as professionalized ideologically neutral “weak” ties; p. 40) are an influential part of the story of why mayors chose to adopt social programs designed for other cities. Following a quantitatively rich chapter 3 that is not destined for all readers, chapters 4 and 5 make this book. These chapters offer richly nuanced detail through the process of tracing exactly where and when these two ideas originated, the actors involved, and how—and why—they so successfully spread across Brazil. The contrast between the relatively simple idea behind Bolsa Escola, where the ideology of the actors involved clearly mattered in its gradual spread, with the more complicated ideas behind Programa Saúde da Família, where social and professional networks had a clear role within its slow start and rapid diffusion, is wonderfully executed.

To conclude, Diffusion of Good Government fills an important gap in the literature and should be of great interest to Brazilian specialists and to development practitioners. By focusing on the subnational level to uncover the specific mechanisms that facilitated the spread of model social policies across local jurisdictions in Brazil, Sugiyama goes way beyond examining the unique settings where innovations begin. She establishes that political actors really matter, both quantitatively and qualitatively. To the author’s great merit, she successfully challenges the assumptions about patronage, clientelism, and the politics that shape reform efforts in Brazil (p. 184), and even more broadly, in the developing world. Most optimistically, this book shows us that decentralization in...