Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL)
The article by Heider Pinto and colleagues1 brings up elements that are worth being discussed under the perspective of the public policy cycle. Therefore, even though the authors express its statute engaged in the policy they intend to analyze, its reflection is relevant to the academic debate itself and to inform future governing actions.
The article shows to which extent the policy decision-making process is based on circumstances. In order to speak of processes, we need to understand different public policy cycles: emergency and issue agenda; and policy formulation, implementation and assessment2. In order to speak of circumstances, we need to understand the feasibility of fulfilling policy cycles. Basically, it is about opening the governing action’s “black box,” understanding that decisions made throughout policy cycles result from the momentary structure and organization of groups of interest3. These groups include wider political communities (political parties and multiple social organization movements with political purposes), as well as professions, market, international regulation instances and, obviously, universities.
