Infralegal and parainstitutional practices as a governance method

the case of public funding for culture (2020-2021)

Abstract

https://doi.org/10.1590/2179-8966/2025/89542

The article describes the course of five infra-legal mechanisms implemented by the Jair Bolsonaro administration between 2020 and 2021 to handle the economy of culture. The paper is part of a broader research agenda on the discursive repertoires grounding the management of this sector, which investigates the meanings of public life and the forms of governance and institutional innovations advanced by the Federal Executive. The current work observes how the former President's term gave rise to an unusual relationship between the Executive and the Legislative branches, deviating from the conventional terms of so-called “coalition presidentialism“. Inspired by the idea of authoritarian infralegalism, the analysis reveals a harmony with forms of governance of the economy of culture recently promoted in different countries. It also lights strategies of governmentality that generate four effects on public policies: agenda, delay, control, and mobilization.