The Mariana Disaster and the Governance Challenge

Proposal for a Research Agenda Based on the ACF- Advocacy Coalition Framework

Abstract

The Mariana disaster, which occurred on November 5, 2015, is considered the greatest environmental disaster in Brazilian history. To date, the negative consequences and the scale of the damage caused can not yet be measured accurately. The enormous extent of damage, from the destruction of dwellings to the contamination of fish and soil, is still one of the greatest challenges facing the Brazilian State. The Public Power, in partnership with the private sector responsible for the area, inaugurated a system of governance unprecedented in the country to deal with this complexity. Although the results of such an arrangement can not yet be fully evaluated, there is much room for designing new research agendas on the subject. In this sense, the present article proposes a design for the analysis of this governance in the light of the ACF - Advocacy Coalition Framework, combined with the construction of a validated analysis code. This is a first step towards a fuller understanding of the positioning of the advocay coalitions involved in the case, and a complement to environmental policy research in Brazil.