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The aim of this paper is to describe the arena in which managers of small size Brazilian municipalities make decisions as constrained by stakeholder influence.

Four case studies were carried out with municipalities in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The investigation was carried out using grounded theory. Data were gathered through in‐depth interviews with managers and with the main stakeholders. Data were analysed using content analysis, supported by QSR N6 software.

The contribution of this paper to theory is based on a description of the arena in which Brazilian municipal districts make decisions. In so doing, it endeavours to model this arena as comprised of five clusters of stakeholder concerns: limitation, collaboration, orientation, legitimacy, and inspection. The paper raises some issues that are helpful in explaining the relationship between stakeholder influences and public organisations. In other words, it helps to label stakeholder influences and to make stakeholder influence more manageable by public organisations at the local government level. In practical terms, the paper concludes that the number of stakeholders is less important than the sort of influence they are supposed to exert upon organisations.

The limitations of this investigation relate to the features of the case study methods employed. The results show the particular situation of the State of Minas Gerais (at the southeast of Brazil) and represent the situation of small municipalities.

There has been very little prior analysis of stakeholder influence focusing on local government. This investigation is the first with a specific focus on identifying the arena in which Brazilian municipalities make decisions and the relationship of those municipalities with stakeholders.

Purpose – This chapter aims to provide an overview of public administration practices in Brazil for the last 200 years, highlighting its main characteristics and the relationship between state and society. The chapter begins with the arrival of the Portuguese Crown in Brazil in 1808 and describes the main events up to the end of the President Lula's period of government.

Design/Methodology/Approach – The ideas presented in this essay originate from a review of extant literature as well as from the testimony of the authors who have researched and participated as active actors in the process in the last 20 years.

Practical implications – A source of information for those studying the evolution of the Brazilian public administration. The essay presents several phases of how political ideology has influenced public services delivery, pinpointing the impact of patrimonialism, bureaucracy, and managerialism on the government's daily activities.

Originality/Value – This is an original chapter that discusses recent Brazilian political and administrative history in order to ascertain a comprehensive picture of the main events and achievements that have led to the current state of affairs. The chapter is a valuable source of reference for analysis of the different periods of public administration in Brazil.

There is an important intellectual and conceptual challenge for many of us working across the broad field of public sector management. Part of this challenge stems from the observation that there are three connected but separate profound policy and political changes taking place. Firstly, there is the impact of neo-liberalism as an ideological project and as a model(s) of managing national economies and social and welfare policy. We recognise that there are competing definitions of neo-liberalism and that we need to be careful about over-generalising its effect and its coherence. But, it does seem to us that by taking a longer term view we can see how the language and ideas of the primacy of markets and, in particular, markets in social and welfare policy have become dominant. This is not to say that in some places there is no resistance to these ideas and we can observe in the European Union how for a long time there was very explicit resistance to the ideas of the New Right. But the desire to weaken the role of the state as funder and provider of welfare services and the emergence of a counterview that markets and the privatisation of the welfare sector is the most appropriate choice is a demonstration of an ideological shift.