The course will be based on theoretical approaches and approaches that generate a dialog between the fields of political science and public administration. The evolution of these two areas of knowledge has been separate for a long time, although classic texts have already problematized the links between them, either theoretically or because of their implications for the functioning of the state and its institutions. On the one hand, public bureaucracies are seen as the bearers of the technical competence necessary for the proper functioning and provision of public policies; while on the other hand, politics defines objectives to be implemented according to the rules that lead to the formation of representative governments. While this classic view continues to inform the debate, the literature has also moved towards new ways of analyzing this interface in order to deepen the analysis of the relationship between politics and bureaucracy, especially considering the complexity of the provision of public services, which is facing new challenges in a context of crisis of democracy. The course deepens the debate on themes dear to both ways of analyzing the state, such as the politicization of public administration, forms of patronage in state organization, the role of bureaucracies as politically oriented actors, the relationship between public administration and democracy, national styles of politics and the contemporary challenges of democratic backsliding with the rise of authoritarian populist governments.