Title: The digital responses of the Brazilian legislative to the Covid-19 pandemic: an analysis of initiatives at the federal and state level

Authors: Tatiana Aneas; Samuel Barros

Addresses: Social Communication Department, Federal University of Sergipe (UFS), 49100-000, Brazil ' Center for Applied Culture, Languages and Technologies (CECULT), Federal University of Recôncavo da Bahia (UFRB), 44200-000, Brazil

Abstract: This paper aims to map and analyse the digital actions of Brazilian legislative houses at the federal and state levels in response to the pandemic caused by the new coronavirus (Sars-CoV-2). A prospecting of initiatives was carried out, which resulted in the collection of 102 cases, 78 at the federal level and 24 from state parliaments. The occurrences were categorised according to their function: information about the pandemic; transparency about implemented actions; and engagement and participation. The results point to the discrepancy in initiatives at the national and subnational levels; the prevalence of public hearings; and little diversity in the use of digital tools by parliaments, except for the Federal Senate. An in-depth analysis of each type of initiative also allowed us to conclude that some initiatives, even with few cases, made important contributions.

Keywords: digital parliament; digital democracy; e-government; Covid-19 pandemic; Brazilian legislative; participation; transparency; legislative website.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEG.2021.121243

International Journal of Electronic Governance, 2021 Vol.13 No.4, pp.442 - 461

Received: 13 Nov 2020
Accepted: 06 Apr 2021
Published online: 01 Mar 2022 *

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