Ciência Política

Nesta dissertação de mestrado investigamos os relacionamentos existentes entre Estado e sociedade civil durante as primeiras décadas do século XX. Neste período, moradores da cidade do Rio de Janeiro buscaram interferir no processo de tomada de decisão governamental por intermédio de diferentes estratégias de mobilização. Afirmamos que a referida interferência ocorreu sobretudo através das três diferentes formas de participação social – contatos diretos e indiretos com o poder público, ativismo e associativismo civis e imprensa. Para averiguar de que modo os cariocas participaram das decisões políticas do período, analisamos sistematicamente demandas, reclamações e pedidos efetuados por residentes do bairro de Copacabana. Utilizamos evidências coletadas em jornais de bairro e documentos oficiais da época para demonstrar o processo que permitiu que demandas dos moradores de Copacabana se convertessem em políticas implementadas pela administração pública local. A partir da análise efetuada constatamos que a interlocução entre autoridades políticas e moradores foi frequente durante as décadas iniciais do século passado, o que resultou em oportunidades reais para que parte da população carioca efetivamente participasse dos assuntos políticos da cidade. O resultado, de modo geral, foi a conquista pelos cidadãos de melhoramentos para a sua área de residência.

After fifteen years of democratization, residents of Rio's favelas (shantytowns) suffer high levels of civil and human rights abuse at the hands of both police and drug traffickers. The government is generally not able to guarantee the political order to protect the rights of residents of these communities. Existing theories of democratization and advocacy networks offer little to explain how the types of endemic violence that affect poor neighborhoods in the developing world can be brought under control. Based on over two years of participant observation and interviews in Rio de Janeiro, this project examines how democratic order can be extended to favelas and human rights more effectively guaranteed in similar communities in other cities and countries. I argue that Local Associative Networks [LANs] are able to link community residents to organizations in civil society and state actors play a critical role in reducing violence and establishing democratic order. Favelas that possess a diverse set of social organizations have an easier time interacting with the state and civil society than communities that lack such institutions. The links between the community and the outside are fundamental in helping residents bring in needed resources, controlling abuses on the part of state officials who work in the community, and establishing order. This project details the types of micro-level institutions necessary to consolidate democracy and guarantee human rights on the local level. Further, this project looks at the structure of domestic political networks and the role they play in the governance of post-authoritarian societies.

The politics of local economic development in the Brazilian favela (urban slums) are contentious. This dissertation examines the politics of economic development in the urban slum of São Pedro, which is located in the city of Vitória, Brazil. Space and scale are central to understanding the politics of economic development in this favela, and this research will make use of both concepts to shed light on this local struggle. The dissertation will examine the struggle over local economic development in São Pedro through an analysis of the residents' spatial practices. This dissertation will examine the role that scale plays in shaping the politics of local economic development in São Pedro. To accomplish these two objectives, the research will examine the class-based spatial practices of the favela's largely low-income residents. The dissertation will also analyze the control that the favela's residents have over the community's local economic development, specifically Project São Pedro, in relation to the influence exercised by more affluent and powerful outsiders.

“Social exclusion” has been identified as one of the largest problems affecting Latin American cities today. That is, the marginalization of classes of individuals from formal political, economic, and social spaces of the city. With upwards of 40 percent of a city's population living in shantytowns and other irregular settlements, in some cases, attempts to reverse social exclusion have taken center stage in social policy in the last decade. This study examines one such approach, embodied in a series of housing programs known as the Favela-Bairro Housing Upgrading Initiative. This program aims to end exclusion by “extending citizenship” to the urban poor. However, rather than serving as an opportunity to include these populations into decision-making structures, the state defines citizenship narrowly. Based on interviews with the residents of three irregular settlements, government officials, and representatives of non-governmental organizations, I argue that the state uses the language of citizenship in order to manage demands from and expectations of residents.

Furthermore, rather than being “included” into the Brazilian polity, residents are inserted into the formal market for goods and services, deemed full citizens on the basis of consumption and contribution of taxes. As a result, the broad ideals of equality and democracy inherent in citizenship are replaced by more instrumental uses.