At-will appointed positions in Brazilian public administration

an analysis from the perspective of bureaucratic theory applied to the Chamber of Deputies

Abstract

At-will appointed positions are functional structures that can be occupied by individuals without tenure in the public service through discretionary appointment, considering the principles of public administration. This article investigates the imbalance in the quantity of at-will appointed positions within the Chamber of Deputies compared to the number of tenured civil servants, in light of the principles of bureaucratic theory, in an attempt to verify whether these appointments are justified by the technical qualifications of the appointees. The research was conducted between November 2023 and May 2024, adopting a qualitative methodology. Which involves document analysis of legislation, comparison of norms, data collection from the transparency portal, and requests made through the Brazilian Freedom of Information Act.. The results indicate a disproportion between the number of at-will appointed positions and the number of tenured civil servants, as well as a lack of adequate educational requirements for their appointment. The findings reveal that these practices may reflect administrative behaviors that favor actions contrary to the efficiency idealized by Weberian bureaucracy and constitutional precepts. They also underscore the importance of improving the appointment processes to ensure that individuals appointed are adequately qualified, thereby contributing to the provision of public services with the quality expected by society.