Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pereira
Revista do Serviço Público 50 (4), outubro 1999: 5-30.
Abstract. In this paper the author - Minister of Federal Administration and Reform of the State in the first Cardoso Administration (1995-98) - asks himself why, in this period, the constitutional amendment that became known as the Administrative Reform, was approved by Congress, while the Tax Reform and the Social Security Reform were not. His answer is that the Administrative Reform (a) responded to a social demand; (b) had a clear objectives (to make viable the Managerial Reform of the Brazilian bureaucratic public administration); (c) presented a precise design, particularly on the proposed change of tenure rights; (d) involved political alliances and limited compromises; and (e) was the outcome of a national public debate, which ended by persuading public opinion and the Brazilian senior civil service.
