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The article discusses a 2011 performance of the play "Viúvas--Performance Sobre a Ausência" ("Widows--A Performance about Absence") by the theatre group Ói Nóis Aqui Traveiz on the island Ilha do Presídio near Porto Alegre, Brazil. Topics include the relation of the performance to the former use of the island to hold political prisoners during Brazil's military dictatorship, the nature of the political transition from dictatorship in relation to neoliberalism, and the role of playwright Ariel Dorfman in writing the play.

This short introduction to Cicilia Maria Krohling Peruzzo's 1998 article “Community Communication and Education for Citizenship” gives some context into the contributions of Brazilian communication scholarship to the study of community and participatory media. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Revista de Sociologia e Política is the property of Revista de Sociologia e Politica 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 gathered data referring to the trips and agreements signed between Brazil and the Middle East in the administrations of Lula da Silva and Cardoso, and it was showed that Lula, in comparison to FHC, intensified the partnerships with the countries of the Middle East. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The magazine 'Children', published for the teacher of early childhood education, has been selected as theme, source and object for history writing since it is a sample that pervades the institutionalization of education in early childhood in Brazil. The aim of current paper is the interpretation of the section titled 'Letters to the Teacher', used primarily to advertise each editions and to inform on activities and themes related to education in early childhood. Two main categories are proposed, or rather, the teacher in the education of early childhood as a participant in the drafting of the magazine and 'Children' as a tool for the guidance of practices that may be developed by teachers. The issues between numbers 29 (BRASIL, [ca.1996]) and 37 (BRASIL, 2002b), within the two terms of Fernando Henrique Cardoso's administration, triggered discussions that prioritized the form and contents of the section 'Letters to the Teacher'. The letters highlight that teachers should be creative, reflective and responsible for spreading quality in the praxis of education in early childhood. Results show that the magazine 'Children' provides several approaches to the writing of history for the historians of Education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electoral theories of democracy imply electoral competition insures accountability. Using data on local elections, socioeconomic factors, and municipal budgets from more than 5,000 municipalities in Brazil for the years 1996, 2000, and 2004, we find that municipalities with more competitive elections allocate less to social spending compared to municipalities with little political competition. We argue that previous theory on political competition and public goods obscures the critical role that financial resources play in shaping the dynamics of social spending and political competition. Municipalities with small budgets lack the resources necessary to engineer convincing electoral victories. Where resources are negligible, voter turnout is low, and incumbents rarely win reelection. Incumbent parties in municipalities with large financial resources win big. Armed with adequate resources, incumbent parties mobilize voters and win by large margins. This new argument and evidence reconcile contradictory findings in the existing literature on competition and public goods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to discuss the public policies regarding distance education in Brazil, particularly in its relations to the economic and political process. Based on the observation that all public policy is the result of a view of the real world, the article aims to discuss the relations of the capitalization of education in a neoliberal model. This discussion shows that the model of implementation of the distance education modality undergirded by the discourse about the 'democratization' of higher education actually reveals the underlying process of commodification and privatization of education in Brazil in the Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Lula administrations. The article is guided by Marxist theory as its theoretical framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Imagens da Educação is the property of Universidade Estadual de Maringa 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.)

Several meanings on the recent past, symbolized by the concepts ‘reconciliation’ and ‘revanchism’, were constructed during the transition period. The aim was to maintain control of the process by a sort of continuation of fear by comparing the Brazilian dictatorship to the Argentinean one which imprisoned the violators of human rights. Current paper presents some preliminary results of a still going investigation on memory and transmission of experience on the civil-military dictatorship and State terrorism in debates prior to the Amnesty Law and during the parliamentary works of the National Constitutional Assembly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes the current Brazilian party system under the conceptual lens of Katz and Mair's cartel party theory (1995, 2009), using some of its indicators, but without trying a systematic and comprehensive test of the thesis. Three sets of indicators are explored: a) the party linkages with society and state; b) competition and collusion among the major parties; c) organization and internal decision-making structure. The conclusions discuss the efficacy of cartelization model to understand the patterns and changes of the Brazilian political system, and point out the empirical difficulties and the theoretical and conceptual inconsistencies of the model, proposing a theoretical reelaboration which restricts it to its essential core. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes the impact of politics on governmental efforts to promote social policies, more specifically Education and Culture, and Health and Sanitation policies. The paper aims to explain the variation in Brazilian states' standards of social policy provision during the five governmental administrations following re-democratization. Our explanation focuses on political and institutional factors during the 1987-2006 period. Our aim is to assess the impact of political competition, the party system, the legacy of public policy, and economic and institutional constraints on social policy provision since the end of the military dictatorship. Our empirical analysis is conducted through estimates of Prais-Winsten regression models with panel corrected standard error model (PCSE-AR1). The results of this analysis show that the majority of parties in government do not differ in their social expenditures and that political competition loses its predictive capacity when faced with institutional constraints arising from the central government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de Sociologia e Política is the property of Revista de Sociologia e Politica 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.)

Copyright of Revista de Sociologia e Política is the property of Revista de Sociologia e Politica 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.)

Copyright of Revista de Sociologia e Política is the property of Revista de Sociologia e Politica 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.)

Copyright of Intersecoes: Revista de Estudios Interdisciplinares is the property of Editora da Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (EdUERJ) 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.)

Starting from the perspective that foreign policy is a public policy (i.e. the state and government in action at the international level) this article discusses the conceptual and political implications of the new configuration of Brazilian foreign policy. By considering foreign policy as public policy, the authors break its automatic association with crude versions of Realism and bring it to the field of politics, thus recognizing that its formulation and implementation fall within the dynamics of governmental choices which, in turn, stem from negotiations within coalitions, bargaining, disputes and agreements between representatives of diverse interests. As a result, the text removes foreign policy from a condition linked to inertial and supposedly self-evident and/or permanent national interests (protected from injunctions of cyclical nature related to partisan politics) and strips it of features generally attributed (or preconceived) to so-called state policies. Finally, the authors suggest avenues for an innovative research agenda, such as (i) advancing sociological, organizational and institutional debates on the role of diplomatic agency, the process of learning and transformation, and the need to establish new institutional arrangements; (ii) rethinking the place of diplomatic agency in public administration; and (iii) incorporating comparative spatial and temporal perspectives in foreign policy analysis, in order to broaden our analytical capacities on contexts and contradictions. These moves allow the reader to understand how systemic opportunities, different national and historical contexts, multiple state and non-state actors, domestic and inter/transnational agendas play a role in foreign policy, especially in countries with characteristics similar to those of Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines key ideological, economic, and institutional preferences of the Brazilian political elite in the first 25 years of the country's present democratic regime. Introducing the unified dataset of the Brazilian Legislative Surveys, it examines several crucial dimensions of politicians' attitudes, including elite placement on a traditional left-right scale, preferences concerning the fundamental economic model, direct comparisons of the recent Cardoso and Lula governments, and orientations toward Brazil's global and regional projection. On many of the central issues, attitudes have remained stable, but on the dimensions that have seen notable change, nearly all the change has been in the direction of decreasing polarization. In contrast to the experience of some neighboring countries, the Brazilian case demonstrates that the sustained practice of democracy can lead to attitudinal convergence and macro-political stability, even when the initial political and socioeconomic conditions appear daunting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A diverse and growing literature ties legislative professionalization and power to career paths. In particular, higher rates of reelection and longer legislative careers should produce more professional, competent, and high-quality legislatures. Legislators have more incentives to strengthen their own institution when they intend to remain there for a long career. Using data from the most recent constitutional convention in Brazil, we show that legislators with greater prospects for long careers were actually less likely to support strengthening the legislative branch. We explain this as part of a local equilibrium where career legislators' short-term need for pork trumped their long-term interest in a stronger institution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de Sociologia e Política is the property of Revista de Sociologia e Politica 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.)

Copyright of Política & Sociedade: Revista de Sociologia Política is the property of Revista Politica & Sociedade 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 examines the history of the Torture Never Again monument, which was proposed by Grupo Tortura Nunca Mais (Torture Never Again Group) and designed by Oscar Niemeyer for the city of Rio de Janeiro in the months following the transition from military to civilian government in Brazil in 1985. The prospect of the installation of the monument, although intended to denounce the human rights violations committed by the military government, evoked unexpected challenges and criticisms. Nonetheless, it was approved for installation and a foundation was put in place. Yet, the monument has yet to be erected. As a case study, this article shows the ways in which memorial projects must answer to multiple and often conflicting demands. It argues that the formidable opposition was not directed toward a project to memorialize the victims of torture, but rather toward the specific project proposed. Discussed primarily in terms of propriety and taste, the critiques effectively directed debates about the monument away from a denunciation of the military regime and toward other concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The writ on the autonomy of the state of Tocantins, Brazil, in the 1988 Federal Constitution employs the term ‘creation'. This concept reinforces the idea of empty space and abandoned peoples through the discourses of individuals. Current research analyzes the specific and symbolic behavior of the first governor José Wilson Siqueira Campos, coupled to debates on the sociological, psychological and theological interpretations. The above produces the genesis of public authority and guidelines towards the legitimating of ownership and merit that involves social representation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Body control in media-normalizing politics within the context of the Brazilian presidential candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's electoral campaign in 2002 is analyzed and discussed. Photographs exhibited by three Brazilian weekly reviews, Epoca, IstoE and Veja, are analyzed according to French Discourse Analysis, mainly under the aegis of Foucault's investigations. An analysis of the candidate's photographic images reveals the social media's concern in presenting Lula's campaign through a representation featured by contrasting expositions. In fact, the 2002 election campaign is contrasted to that of former electoral periods. The normalization for a docile representation policy in the media comprises a regular 'behavioral norm' and a 'gesture norm'when broadcasting Lula's dociled body. The denunciation of body docilization by the social media also questioned the Brazilian Labor Party campaign as a possible decharacterization of Lula and his party to guarantee positive results in the elections. However, the historical review of body treatment and the contemporary overlaying of politics and the media show that the process of modifying Lula's presidential campaign was an adaptation stance towards the needs of politics being more immersed in the communication media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de Sociologia e Política is the property of Revista de Sociologia e Politica 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.)