This article offers an analysis of the political process that led to the institutional reconfiguration of the federal transport sector in Brazil, which came into force with Law nº 10.233/2001 creating two new regulating agencies attached to the Ministry of Transportation: the National Agency of Terrestrial Transportation and the National Agency of Waterway Transportation. Employing the theoretical approach of the historical institutionalism of contemporary Political Science and the process tracing method, the analysis shows how the sequence of events in time, institutions and actor strategies, outlined a specific pattern of institutional change, characterized by the introduction of new rules and organizations.
institutional change; regulatory policy; federal transportation sector
