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Copyright of IBEROAMERICANA. América Latina - España - Portugal is the property of Vervuert Verlag and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article provides a new interpretation of the changes that occur in party-civil society relations when progressive parties of mass-based origin gain state power by looking at the experience of the Brazilian Workers’ Party (PT) during the Lula administration. The need to preserve what is defined here as ‘social governability’ changes the nature of party-movement relationships when political parties move from opposition to government. The article shows how the PT in national executive public office, to a large extent, managed to secure social governability through reward-based linkages, such as the distribution of jobs in the state apparatus and the allocation of massive state subsidies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

ABSTRACT This article shows how and why the initial attempts of the Lula administration in Brazil to promote innovative counterhegemonic participatory strategies, such as those put in place by the PT in some of its subnational governments, fell by the wayside. It is argued that the implementation and scope of participatory initiatives under Lula were caught between electoral motivations and the need to secure governability. On the one hand, the need to produce quick results in order to maximize vote-seeking strategies hindered attempts to promote counterhegemonic participation, while Lula and his inner circle opted for policies that would score immediate marks with the poorest sectors or influence public opinion. On the other hand, participation also took a back seat because the PT concentrated most of its energies on reaching agreements with strategic actors, such as opposition parties or powerful economic groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

US-Brazilian relations sunk to one of their lowest points ever following last year's exposure of the US government's massive surveillance of the South American giant-including the correspondence of President Rousseff and the business operations of Brazil's national oil company, Petrobras. Brazilian authorities responded angrily. The Brazilian president called off a highly valued state visit to Washington, denounced the US for violations of sovereignty and human rights, and proceeded to bypass the US to purchase nearly $5 billion worth of fighter aircraft from Sweden. In fact, US-Brazil ties have not been constructive for more than a generation. Yes, relations are mostly amiable, but with limited cooperation, considerable discord and some open clashes. Washington views Brazil primarily as a regional actor, and wants its cooperation mainly on inter-American issues. For Brazil, regional collaboration means working with other Latin American nations-not the United States. Brazil usually wants the US to keep a distance from the region. The US is no more enthusiastic about Brazil assuming a global role; differences over some of the world's most dangerous political and security challenges have made Washington uneasy about Brazil's engagement in international affairs and critical of its foreign policy judgements. Relations will probably improve, but they could get worse. The two governments need to acknowledge that their relationship is fragile and troubled, and take steps both to rebuild trust and to avert further deterioration and new confrontations. They have to be more careful with each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This article analyzes the evolution of the network of Brazilian federal accountability institutions over the course of the past generation, between the transition to democracy and the end of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's second term. Substantively, the article charts the significant gains that have been made in accountability institutions. Theoretically, it evaluates the evolution of these institutions as a consequence of the distribution of rules, routines, roles, and resources across a larger institutional network, demonstrating that changes in the various bureaucratic agencies have mutually reinforced each other and generated autocatalytic processes of reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Estudos de Sociologia is the property of Universidade Estadual Paulista and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article studies the processes of nomination and appointment to the Supreme Federal Tribunal in Brazil made by Presidents Sarney through Lula da Silva. It shows that in relations with the Senate, presidential anticipation prevails over presidential dominance. Brazilian presidents are successful appointers because they invest great effort in the moment of selection, when potential candidates are tested in the juridical and political communities. As a consequence, a uniform Senate approval of candidates coexists with a differential pattern of candidate recruitment. Sometimes presidents can select close candidates from their government; sometimes first-choice candidates are ruled out for lack of consensus. The type of coalition the president heads and the number of vacancies available affect the president's chances of imposing a candidate. The filter posed by center-right parties in the Senate induces the selection of nominees with centrist preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An interview with Vladimir Davydov, director of the Institute of Latin America, Russian Academy of Sciences, is presented. He discusses Brazil's economic and agricultural potential, the leadership of former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, also known as Lula, and Brazil's transition from dictatorship to democracy. He also comments on the establishment of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) and relations between the Russian Federation and Brazil.

Copyright of Desarrollo Económico is the property of Instituto de Desarrollo Economico y Social and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The expansion of Brazilian capitals into South America has created dilemmas to the foreign policy of the Government of Lula -- Dilma due to the tension between development and solidarity as axes of external linking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our aim in this article was to compare the discourse of the two presidents that governed Brazil in the last 16 years (Fernando Henrique and Lula). We used the method known as content analysis to investigate more than a thousand addresses delivered by both presidents in diplomatic events in Brazil and abroad. We found important similarities and differences in the subject matters and in the alliances they managed to make in the international arena. Both presidents privileged the issues related to the economy, to international institutions and to the relationship with South America. Fernando Henrique seemed to have given more attention to issues related to democracy and to have been closer to European countries. Lula extended his concern to inequality issues to the international context and dedicated to establishing a more open dialogue with Asia, the Middle East and, most of all, with Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the 2009-2010 conflict over a proposed National Truth Commission (NCT) in Brazil which would investigate human rights violations during the military regime of the late 20th century. It is suggested that collective memory of the military regime was used for political purposes in the struggle, particularly to discredit the government of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Details related to participants in the conflict, including Brazilian Special Minister of Human Rights Paulo Vannuchi and Defence Minister Nelson Jobim are presented. Other topics include blackmail, the role of the media in the conflict, and the proposed Third National Programme of Human Rights (PNDH-3).

This article reviews the state of Brazilian democracy at the close of the Cardoso-Lula era. Brazil has now completed a quarter century of competitive politics, the longest democratic period in the country's history. Although evaluations of the regime's prospects were often pessimistic in the 1985-1993 period, the performance of democracy improved markedly after the Piano Real stabilization plan in the mid-1990s, which was followed by significant policy achievements under presidents Fernando Henrique Cardoso (Party of Brazilian Social Democracy, or PSDB) and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Workers' Party, or PT). Since 1995, the axis of national politics has turned on the competition between the PSDB and allies versus the PT and allies. Under this emerging bicoalitional architecture, several key policy domains have been objects of consensus between the two camps, which has led to major policy advances; however, certain policy areas remain outside the zone of consensus and pose enduring challenges. Despite the improving quality of democracy, the mass public continues to display a surprisingly high level of indifference to the regime type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I examine free and open source software as a unique terrain of struggle over the politics of globalization, focusing on the Brazilian government's software strategy under the Lula administration. First, I locate this strategy in the historical context of the Brazilian government struggles for technological development and autonomy. I highlight how the Brazilian government used its power as a hierarchical organization to take advantage of the distinctive, networked political economy of free and open source software. I employ a post-structural political economy perspective to analyze the key role of discourse within the Brazilian software strategy. Second, I explore two ways that the Lula administration pursued its strategy of digital inclusion through an innovative approach to the politics of consumption. It used the power of government purchases to shift to free and open source systems, as well as pursuing a more ambitious project to democratize consumption of computers, free software and the Internet among Brazil's poor. I conclude by examining the implications of this software strategy for understanding and developing a political economy of digital inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article evaluates the production of the speeches of electoral advertising in TV of the two presidential candidates: Fernando Henrique (PSDB) in 1998 and Luis Inácio Lula of Silva (PT) in 2006. Therefore, the point is to investigate to what extent the campaigns show discursive strategic structures. similar in the two contexts - in spite of supporting registrations and different political orientations. The methodology uses procedures to understand the rhetorical elements of each campaign and persuasion strategies. In both campaigns one observes the incentive to the retrospective vote, the speech in favor of the continuity of the administration, the place of the candidate-president's authority, the emphasis in speech of economical issues. One can suggest that the rhetoric of the reelection favors positions in the electoral dispute. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the impact of being a Family Grant Program beneficiary in vote choice for President in the 2006 elections and in Lula da Silva's government evaluations. Therefore, the article contributes to the growing literature on how social programs affect voting behaviour in Brazil. However, differently from all other studies, we use individual level data from the AmericasBarometer 2008 Brazilian round, and multivariate statistical analysis to test our hypotheses. Results indicate that being a recipient of the Family Grant Program positively affects vote for Lula and his administration's evaluations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The voting of Lula in 2006 excited hypotheses on the repercussion of the public politics of the first mandate in the electoral results. The social programs of direct transference of income, in special the "Bolsa Família", had been associates to the great growth of its voting in the cities poor of the north and northeast. We use concepts and methods of modern electoral geography to inquire which the participation of the "Bolsa Família" in this geographic change. The results show a new standard in the space distribution of the votes of Lula, confirming that he still receives the support from its previous bases, but disclose that the regional blocks of cities of high voting in 2002 had lost the cohesion in 2006, becoming more vulnerable. The results confirm the participation of the "Bolsa Família" on the local income was a determinative one of the new contour of the electoral-geographic basis, and the factor of big weight in the explanation of the municipal voting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]