History, narrative and representations of the Brazilian public administration

Public Administration is a invention. It's a process of building and updating of social representations of the state apparatus and its interaction with society supported by historical narratives and symbolic images created by intellectuals, politicians, technocrats and journalists. This invention is also based on the understanding of the influences of the political, economic, social, cultural and legal sources of our current institutions and administrative practices. It is a way of establishing the connection of meanings between structures, events and representations. In this sense, this critical essay has the purpose of presenting and discussing briefly the findings and omissions of the recent historiography of the Brazilian Public Administration and the contributions that the critical reading of Brazilian social thought can offer to undo myths about this historical heritage. It aims critically examining and discussing the evolutionist perspective of historiography and the culturalist approach to social thought that inform analyzes and diagnoses about the Brazilian public administration.