Intergovernmental Relations in the Implementation of the Public Service User Defense Code in Brazil: State capabilities and institutional arrangements

Among the stages of maturity in Digital Government proposed by [33], Brazil evolved nationally and federatively towards the first stages with the publication of Federal Law 13,460/2017, which instituted the Public Services User Defense Code (PSUDC). First, however, it is necessary to investigate whether this code created a National Public Service User Defense System in Brazil. The PSDUC has mandatory commands for all federal entities, giving ombudspersons a prominent role in defending the user's rights to public services, representing an advance in protecting fundamental rights. Since the law impacts various levels of government, this work aims to identify characteristics in the institutional arrangement around the PSUDC that indicate whether there is an outline of a Federative System of Public Policies. Furthermore, they determine which institutions in the different entities act for the user's defense and which state capabilities are present. For this theoretical-empirical study, its central methodology is the documentary analysis and descriptive and geospatial analysis of data on the National Network of Ombudsman Offices (Rede Nacional de Ouvidorias Publicas - ReNOuv). The results indicate, within the ReNOuv, the existence of four characteristics regarding the institutional arrangement; the identification of administrative, political, relational, and legal state capabilities and features information of a system of public policies for the defense of the public service user. Finally, the article elaborates a future research agenda, indicating the necessary improvements for the consolidation of the public policy system investigated in the federative context of Brazil.