This paper aims to examine the decision-making process that resulted in the managerial reform of the Brazilian budget (RGO), which took place in 2000. Having the narrative structure as basis - a technique developed by Barzelay and partners (2001) -, we organize the main events of RGO, in order to interpret them according to the reference framework proposed by Allison and Zelikow (1999), who profess the existence of three paradigms, or "models", in the analysis of government decision-making process: the Rational Actor Model (Model I), the Organizational Behavior Model (Model II), and the Bureaucratic Policy Model (Model III). This case study suggests that examining the decision-making process of the Brazilian public sector, by means of multiparadigmatic models, provides a richer and broader panorama of the factors affecting decision-making and government institutional change.
institutional change; decision-making model; public planning; public budget
