Judicial institutions in the Amazon. "Institutional image" and communicative action

Abstract

The institutional image –or institutional capacity- of public judicial institutions is under a process of change. As for the Public Defense, this change is manifested by the gradual introduction of services of public value, such as an specialized service to listen to people needs and proposal of public policies. The study analyses the image and identification of the Public Defense of the state of Pará (Brazil) from the point of view of the beneficiaries in regard to aspects such as quality of the service and if these services provided are up to their expectations. The investigation of exploratory character aims to formulate hypotheses that will subsidize future research. Therefore, we analyze the potential offered by the concept of communicative action proposed by Jürgen Habermas to understand the existing communications between Public Defenders (understood here as the system) and the beneficiaries (understood in the socio-cultural aspects of the world of life).