The article examines the limits and possibilities for building cooperation between public managers and politicians attempting to promote administrative reform during the first Cardoso government and the public servants unions and associations. The main argument is that cooperation was limited and constrained by the under-institutionalization of communication/interaction channels among the actors, and by various internal organizational and political processes within both the government agencies and employee associations. This argument is illustrated through a case study of the interactions between the Ministry of Administration and State Reform and the Forum of Typical State Careers.
Syndicalism; Administrative reform; Cooperation; Associativism; Work relations in the public sector
