The article studies the relation between the state and private enterprise in public policy enforcement. This research on the basic sanitation policies put into practice in the state of Rio between 1975 and 1996 focuses on the contracting of private companies and on the patterns of relations established within this policy community between technical staff at the state-owned utility, politicians, and construction company representatives. Based on social network analysis, the study shows that the overall structure and the relative positions of political actors within the community network account for the pattern observed in the contracting of private companies and for the interpenetration of institutional power with power derived from positions held within the community network.
public policies; economic sociology; social network analysis; interest mediation
