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Research on street-level bureaucracy has largely been shaped by perspectives from the Global North, leaving limited understanding of how frontline workers operate in vulnerable, unequal and politically unstable settings.
Street-Level Bureaucrats in Vulnerable Contexts addresses this gap through a systematic, empirically grounded analysis of frontline state actors across health, education, law enforcement and social work in Brazil. Drawing on over twenty years of research, the book shows how vulnerability reshapes discretion, decision-making and citizen–state interactions.
Combining theoretical innovation with methodological rigor, it offers a globally relevant framework for understanding policy implementation in high-risk, resource-constrained environments across both South and North contexts.
Introduction: Street-level bureaucracy in contexts
of vulnerability
2 Understanding street- level bureaucracy
3 Understanding vulnerable contexts
4 “I was left alone”: SLBs loneliness in vulnerable contexts
5 “I don’t know what to do”: uncertainties of policy implementation in vulnerable contexts
6 “We have to be careful”: coping with violence and risk in
everyday bureaucratic work
7 “We are exposed to very critical decisions”: moral dilemmas
and responsibility in vulnerable contexts
8 “We work in the middle of a political war”: polarisation in
policy implementation in vulnerable contexts
9 “All street- level bureaucrats are equal, but some are more
equal than others”: inequalities within bureaucracies in
vulnerable contexts
10 Conclusion: Street- level bureaucracy in contexts of
vulnerability – implications and future directions