Public policy to control violence: a case study in Salvador, Bahia State, Brazil

The aim of this study was to analyze the formulation and preliminary developments of a public policy to control violence in Salvador, Bahia State, Brazil. The study's theoretical reference was the cycle of public policies and contributions by "rational choice". The public policy analyzed here reached the first three levels of the political decision-making process: the issue was placed on the public agenda and was present in the discourse of public authorities, and a plan was drafted at the municipal level. The fact that various stakeholders and sectors were convened in the organizational structure proposed by the plan was not sufficient to encourage cooperation among individuals to act jointly in the plan's implementation. The mechanisms used to sensitize the stakeholders were not sufficient to mobilize them for the fight against violence under the proposed format. A public policymaking process should also consider the set of factors that encourage or constrain cooperation among individuals for collective action from the perspective of the common good.