Between Knowledge and Politics: Experts and Water Policy Reform in Brazil

While much has been written on how politicalstructures, institutional factors, and economicshocks constrain and shape the formulation andimplementation of new policy ideas, this book bringsto the fore the role of experts as politicalactors and agents of policy reform. By comparing theintroduction of a new water management model in threeBrazilian states, it focuses on how experts deploydifferent mechanisms to get political and socialsupport for the approval and implementation of newpolicy ideas envisioned as part of their daily job. The analysis should be useful to scholars and policyparticipants involved in the management of naturalresources, especially those interested in theintroduction of participatory management models. Itshould also be useful to social scientists devoted tothe comparative study of public policies or with aparticular interest in the interaction betweenexpertise and politics in policy making and innovation.