Between conflicts and agreements: The process of formulating the General Data Protection Law (LGPD)
This dissertation sought to describe and explain the policymaking process in Brazil. Although the initial discussions on the formulation of a policy on personal data protection date back to 2007, led by the Brazilian Ministry of Justice, such a regulatory framework was approved only in 2018. Thus, the question then arises as to what processes took place in 2018 so that the issue of privacy and the personal data protection finally entered the government agenda and how the different actors mobilized around the subject acted throughout the longstanding debate, influencing the approval of a specific regulatory framework. To this end, models from the field of public policy (multiple streams and advocacy coalitions) were employed in the case study on the making and approval of the General Law for the Protection of Personal Data (LGPD) (Law No. 13,709, of 2018). In addition to the literature review, data was collected from public documents and semi-structured interviews with actors involved in the process studied. Among the concluding remarks and results, it is worth noting that (i) personal data protection as a subject entered the Brazilian government agenda from 2010 onwards; (ii) the emergence of a thematic policy subsystem; (iii) main interested actors and topics of conflict were mapped making it possible to identify, at least, two rival coalitions; and (iv) the influence of an internal shock (data leakage scandal) alongside with an agreement between coalitions in enabling the unanimous approval of the LGPD by Congress.