Atores, decisoes e regras: O processo decisório no regime sociotécnico de geração de energia elétrica no Brasil de 1995-2005

Research output: ThesisMaster's Thesis

Abstract

his research, based on the analysis of the decision-making process in the Brazilian electricity sector, seeks to understand the changes in the Brazilian electricity grid – i.e. an energy transition process, mainly considering the interactions between actors. In order to understand the process, an analytical model was developed from a combination of theoretical frameworks; considering the electricity sector as a socio-technical regime in Frank Geels’ terms, and Graham Allison’s three decision-making models: Rational, Organizational and Political. The central assumption of this dissertation is that actors redefine rules and in that process create the constraints and incentives to incorporate new sources of energy in the grid. A diachronic case study was implemented alongside the narrative structure technique to describe the evolution of the Brazilian socio-technical system of power generation from 1990 to 2005. All the episodes of major regulation changes were highlighted in order to apply a code analysis, developed from the main arguments of each of the Allison models, to identify the distinctive elements that allow a classification in the theoretical frameworks outlined. The analysis shows evidence related to both the Organizational Model and the Governmental Politics Model of decision-making. This means that regulation outputs tend to be influenced by the values and processes of organizations, the context and the leader’s interests. In addition, the Brazilian case shows strong participation of governmental actors in the definition of the rules of the socio-technical regime. From the results obtained it can be concluded that ideological preferences and crises or urgent situations can strongly constrain the alternatives considered by actors while choosing between different ways of managing resources and the sources used to generate electricity.
Original languagePortuguese (Brazil)
Supervisors/Advisors
  • Du Pin Calmon, Paulo, Supervisor, External person
Award date15 Mar 2015
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 26 Mar 2015
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Decision making process
  • Sociotechnical regimes
  • Electricity grid
  • innovation adoption
  • Brazil

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