Ciência Política

This study reconstructs the political evolution of a Brazilian municipality, placing equal emphasis on three major periods — The Old Republic, The Vargas Period and The 1946 Republic. In addition to traditional historical narrative, it also includes a quantitative dimension designed to bring the differences between the three periods more clearly into focus. The body of the study, which is based on field research conducted in Brazil in 1970 and 1971, is organized as follows: First, there are two background chapters; one dealing with the social, economic and political character and history of Brazil and Sao Paulo, and the other concerning itself with the early history of Ribeirao Preto and the social and economic evolution of the Municipality from 1910 to 1960. After that, come chapters on local politics in each of the three major periods which deal not only with the actual history of local politics, but also with the character of the political system — the functions of the municipal politics, local political roles and actors, the nature of municipal elections and the relationships between local interest groups. Next there is a chapter titled "A Quantitative Perspective" which further illustrates the differences between the three major periods by providing an analysis of computerized cross-tabulations of social and economic data concerning all municipal councilmen elected between 1910 and 1960. Finally, there is a concluding section in which the general characteristics of the evolution of politics in Ribeirao Preto and its relationship with other social, economic and political factors are discussed. In general, this work describes a municipality which underwent a truly remarkable metamorphosis in a relatively short period of time. From 1910 to 1960, a predominantly rural, agricultural municipality evolved into an overwhelmingly urban region boasting an economy based on a mix of commerce, industry, services and diversified agriculture. In politics, the unabashed elitist practices of coronelismo gave way to a new system in which the privileged sectors of society learned to accept and live with the reality of a new populist political style. The process of change was relatively peaceful and appears to have been caused by a complex set of. inter-related social, economic and political variables. Changes in political styles, rules and leadership at the national level were important. But, so too was the effect of the social and economic evolution of the Municipality itself.

Why do some bureaucratic bodies become robust after they are created, with adequate resources and authority to perform their tasks, while others remain underfunded and limited in scope? My dissertation explores this question using multisector regulatory agencies in Brazil. Before, during, and after the development of concessions and transfer of essential services to private control in Brazil, state governments created regulatory agencies to maintain an active state role overseeing of service delivery. Though regulatory agencies followed very similar formal outlines, their post-creation development varied widely. I explain this variation. My arguments are based in political principals’ electoral incentives. I begin with an instrumental explanation of agency creation. Governors created regulatory agencies to address a combination of consumer and concessionaire anxiety where they were unable to otherwise make long-term commitments to prevent abusive price increases or expropriation. I then argue that post-creation development was most pronounced where multisector bodies focused most heavily on work in electrical energy, sanitation, and piped natural gas distribution. Mayors and city councilmembers can claim credit for service improvements in these policy areas because these services are geographically bounded. By contrast, work in intercity highways and transportation provides few opportunities for improvement for which local officials can claim credit. Agencies focused on these second set of issues do not develop a positive reputation with mayors. Governors in turn care about mayors’ opinions, and receive credible information about bureaucratic work from them, because mayors’ support is key in future statewide elections. Agency leaders who employ their positive reputation to successfully lobby for more resources and authority produce robust agencies. I explore this argument in multiple areas. First, I explain the workings of the proposed causal mechanism through a comparison between the agency Agergs in moderately well-developed state of Rio Grande do Sul and the agency Arce in the less-developed state of Ceará. Agergs’s early focus on highway and transportation regulation meant that it grew far less robust by 2010 than did Arce, which focused on electricity and sanitation. I then test hypotheses across the case universe using descriptive statistics and causal process-tracing. I expand the argument slightly to examine sectoral agencies in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, and hypothesize how different political institutions might affect subnational regulatory body development in Argentina and Mexico, the next-largest Latin American federations. My work contributes to our understanding of the functioning of the regulatory state in the global South. I raise new important questions about local state capacity in developing countries, and propose an explanation that can be transferred to multiple cases.

The early decades of the twentieth century witnessed acute political conflict in the southeastern Brazilian state of São Paulo as the existing political system—formally republican but oligarchic in structure—came under increasing criticism. Disaffected patricians, ambitious newspapermen, militant workers, idealistic students, and rebellious military officers assailed the leaders of the ruling Republican Party at different points in time, while these same leaders struggled amongst themselves for patronage, party leadership, and that most intangible of vital assets, “prestige.” “A Place in Politics” offers a new interpretation of the political history of Brazil's most important state during these crucial decades. Where the existing historiography has found class or corporate interests of some sort at the root of political conflict during this period, the dissertation emphasizes the political itself, from the influence of political traditions and ideas to the ubiquitous haggling over patronage, local improvements, and social standing, in the making of the different political movements of this period. These disparate movements contributed to three important changes in the nature of regional politics. First of all, they served to encourage, and in turn profited from, an incremental but nevertheless significant increase in political participation, which took place not only through the formal mechanism of voting but also through petitions, rallies, and on rarer occasions riot, and included groups, such as workers and middling folks, long presumed to have played little or no role in formal politics. Second, the political discourse of this period was the site of the construction and/or elaboration of various political symbols of lasting import and influence, including the heroic, young military rebel (who would come to be called a tenente), the enterprising and patriotic explorer (the bandeirante, borrowed from regional lore), and the secret ballot itself, to which was attributed all manner of political miracles. Finally, these movements effected the modification of the traditional structures, practices, and political culture of republican politics. These developments, in turn, helped to shape subsequent politics, playing into the “Revolution” of 1930 and the regionalist revolt of 1932 and coloring subsequent experiments in democratic and authoritarian rule in Brazil's most economically dynamic state.

Child welfare programs exist to protect children from maltreatment and abandonment by their families by providing services to children and their families to assure a nurturing family in which children can grow and develop. These programs reflect the values and concerns of society regarding family responsibility for children and the state's authority to intervene when a child is at risk. The central question addressed in the dissertation is: What are the variables one might most effectively manipulate to change child welfare programs so they can function more effectively and efficiently in communities, especially in developing countries? This comparative study of child welfare programs in Bahia and Sao Paulo in Brazil and in Pennsylvania in the United States examines the laws governing these programs, the policy environment, and policy implementation. The policy environment consists of community influences on these programs; including advocates, church groups, citizen volunteers, and the voluntary service sector; together with societal values which influence the kinds of programs established, and when and how government intervenes in families to protect children. Policy implementation deals with the service delivery system, including funding, performance monitoring of agency operations, service delivery to clients, program management, and roles of the levels of government in developing and sustaining programs. Socio-technical literature posits that technical systems may influence changes in the social system and thus plan their own futures. Variables in the social system hypothesized to be those on which change efforts should be focused are citizen participation with the program; relationship of the voluntary service sector to the public program; family expectations, especially those related to the family's obligation to care for its own members; and the level of national poverty. The latter two variables together greatly influence the child welfare program's direction in a state. Variables in the technical system hypothesized to be those on which change efforts should be focused are service delivery, funding, leadership, and performance monitoring. Variables in the technical system hypothesized to be those on which change efforts should be focused are service delivery, funding, leadership, and performance monitoring. The law serves as a bridge between the social and technical systems. The environment in each state must be assessed to determine if changes in the law would change the technical system.

Neste trabalho, apresentaremos como a semantização na formação discursivo-ideológica sobre os espaços públicos na cidade do Rio de Janeiro, veiculada pela grande imprensa, acentuou as temáticas: medo/segurança, criminalidade/ordem. A partir desta perspectiva, passamos também a verificar, como uma visão hiperbólica da insegurança, do medo e do aumento da criminalidade relaciona-se com as estratégias de controle social e de segurança, dirigidas contra as classes populares, moradores de favelas e de periferias, através de campanhas de lei e ordem, legitimadas pelo processo de ideologização (repetição e construção da memória coletiva) articulado a partir da imprensa. Paralelamente, tendo em vista a existência de um projeto que objetivava aumentar o controle e a repressão sobre os segmentos populares da sociedade com a promessa de controle das classes ditas perigosas, iluminaremos a atuação política do governador do estado em 1992, Leonel Brizola, de forma a demonstrar como tal processo de semantização por parte da imprensa se dirigiu para, além de uma campanha de lei e ordem, a consolidação da imagem do governador como símbolo da pseudo-criminalidade que impunha o medo às elites. Servindo a interesses específicos dessa classe, a imprensa atuou, apesar das tão anunciadas objetividade, imparcialidade e neutralidade jornalística, como um veículo de (in)formação, como um agente político.

À medida que surgiam ideias inovadoras e progressistas em relação às favelas, ou seja, a favela como solução e não como problema, a proposta de urbanização ganha espaço. Foi nesse contexto que o bispo auxiliar do Rio de Janeiro, Dom Hélder Câmara criou, na década de 1950, a Cruzada São Sebastião, pretendendo desenvolver uma ação educativa de humanização e cristianização, partindo da urbanização como condição mínima de sobrevivência humana, elevação moral, intelectual, social e econômica. Apesar do caráter assistencialista e paternalista, a perspectiva de integração social das populações das favelas constitui uma importante inovação. Assim, parte dos moradores da favela da Praia do Pinto foram removidos para um conjunto habitacional, construído pela Igreja Católica, em um terreno próximo à favela, cedido pela Prefeitura do Distrito Federal, em 1957, procurando integrar os moradores da favela à “vida social” que aludia à classe média, sem que fossem afastados de seus locais de trabalho. A proposta do presente trabalho é focalizar, através do cotidiano escolar e da associação comunitária, as diferentes apropriações que se estabelecem mediante as negociações, mediações e conflitos desses atores e das diversas instituições, identificando o delicado momento por que passam os moradores da Cruzada São Sebastião do Leblon, vivenciando um processo de reivindicação e reinvenção de sua cidadania numa incessante luta contra o estigma e busca pelo reconhecimento. Através da observação da rotina da escola pública primária Santos Anjos, localizada dentro do conjunto, discutimos também as políticas públicas adotadas pelo Município do Rio de Janeiro para resolver o problema do fracasso escolar e do estigma em relação à pobreza, assim como as relações conflituosas entre escola e moradores.

As intervenções públicas nas favelas não se constituem em algo recente na história da metrópole carioca. Marcadas por um caráter assistencialista, buscavam implementar algumas melhorias atreladas à infra-estrutura urbana, contudo, as intervenções nestes espaços segregados, durante muito tempo, tiveram a conotação negativa de que a remoção era a melhor solução para estes espaços informais da cidade. Estas idéias de remoção que por muito tempo foram incorporadas pelo poder público começaram a perder importância, e com isso as políticas que se sucederam partiram para a realização de projetos urbanísticos, principalmente voltados para a geração de infra-estrutura urbana para as favelas. Estes novos modelos, contudo, ficaram caracterizados por medidas pontuais e que por um longo período, ficaram restritas a algumas favelas da urbe carioca. Contudo com a aprovação do Plano Diretor da Cidade do Rio de Janeiro, uma nova perspectiva tinha início em termos de política habitacional para as camadas mais carentes da população carioca. É no bojo dessas mudanças, que foi instituído o Programa Favela-Bairro, que se diferenciava das iniciativas anteriores no tocante à forma como fora concebido. Há um planejamento na intervenção em fases distintas, onde ficam evidenciados os critérios estabelecidos na pré-seleção das comunidades, que seriam incluídas no programa. O objetivo principal do programa Favela-Bairro é melhorar as condições de vida, sociais e ambientais, da população de baixa renda do Município do Rio de Janeiro. Este programa representa para a administração municipal o repositório da idéia de integração social entre favelas e a metrópole carioca, através da noção de que melhorias urbanas e os benefícios sociais introduzidos permitem ler a favela como bairro, ou mesmo integrada ao mesmo. Neste contexto, pretende-se discutir a qualificação da idéia de integração social proposta pelo Programa Favela-Bairro, demonstrando através da análise das transformações implementadas em duas comunidades abarcadas pela primeira fase do Programa Favela-Bairro, até que ponto as comunidades do Parque Royal e da Quinta do Caju, tiveram mudanças significativas nas suas realidades sociais, e se realmente foram integradas aos seus respectivos bairros.