Building bridges between social movements and the State in Brazil: an analysis of trajectories and occupation of positions in the federal government

uma análise de trajetórias e ocupação de cargos no governo federal

Abstract

This article aims to present research results on the occupation of untenable positions in the Brazilian federal government since 2003. Guided by the theory of the fields of strategic action, by the approach of social networks, by elements of dispositionalist sociology, multi-deterministic and on an individual scale, and by the concept of institutional activism, we sought, from the bibliographic and documentary research and the conduct of interviews, to identify in the political-institutional context and in the trajectory of the investigated subjects, elements that would explain the occupation of government positions through discretionary channels. The data showed that in the case analyzed, the occupation of these positions was due to a previous insertion, academic and/or professional, in projects and actions related to sustainable rural development and the link with social movements linked to this cause. We found that when entering this field, individuals start to share the same technical community but are also militant. In addition, this type of insertion established networks and conferred, over time, multiple recognitions that allowed the subjects to occupy positions in the federal government, from 2003, given the existing conditions in the State. It was also verified that there is also a biographical availability of subjects to occupy unstable positions in favor of this type of work.