Translating politics into policy implementation: welfare frontline workers in polarised Brazil

Abstract How is policy implementation affected by increased polarisation and extreme shifts in politics? In order to address this question, the paper focuses on frontline workers’ (street-level bureaucrats’) interpretations of political how these are then translated into practice. Building ethnographic fieldwork conducted among social workers Northeast Brazil, proposes a theoretical framework for analysing influence landscapes foregrounding processes which agents play critical role. Drawing empirical data, ideal types possible outcomes translation practices – counterbalance, collaboration, resistance that function as guiding future research.