Abstract in English:

Until 2013, the Brazilian executive branch had control over the execution of all discretionary public spending. In that context, all Brazilian legislators could do was amend the budget proposal prepared by the government. This article analyzes whether EC 86/2015, known as the mandatory budget amendment EC, has reduced executive dominance over the financial cycle of individual budget amendments. To this end, we examine descriptively and inferentially the main changes proposed by EC 86/2015, as well as data about the individual amendments executed before and after the constitutional change. Our results indicate that executive dominance was reduced after the change in the budget execution rules: the amount paid and the number of executed individual amendments have increased, while the profile of legislators with executed amendments also changed: Being part of the government coalition became less important. This article contributes to legislative studies by exploring the empirical implications of this important constitutional change. From a theoretical point of view, our findings challenge the expectation that the executive uses amendment execution as a bargaining tool to secure legislative support in roll-call votes in the National Congress, especially in the post-EC 86/2015 period.

Abstract in English:

The objective of this article is to problematize the place of liberalism in the work of Pierre Rosanvallon through a comparison of two moments of his intellectual career. The first moment is the book ‘Le capitalisme utopique’, in which the author extends Claude Lefort’s critique of totalitarianism to the classical economic liberalism of the 18th century, which he accused of suppressing the political in its representation of society as a market. The second moment is the book ‘Notre histoire intellectuelle et politique 1968-2018’, in which Rosanvallon criticizes the use of the concept of neoliberalism by the contemporary intellectual left, stating that the critique of this monolithic and elusive concept prevents us from imagining political alternatives. The question I probe is whether this criticism of contemporary uses of the concept of neoliberalism is compatible with the author's critique of classical liberalism. To understand the evolution of the problem of liberalism in Rosanvallon's work, I explore his dialogue with Michel Foucault, arguing that this exchange adds complexity to Rosanvallon's interpretation of liberalism. In closing, I assess Rosanvallon's position on overarching concepts such as totalitarianism and neoliberalism, in light of the distinction between the critique of the founding utopias of modernity and the analysis of democratic experiments in contemporaneity.

Abstract in English:

Black Atlantic is the term used to describe the transnationality and interculturality of the space-place that comprises Africa (the continent), the Americas, and Europe (the diaspora). It is in the Black Atlantic diaspora that one of the many black movements is established: Pan-Africanism. The pan-Africanist movement emerged in the early twentieth century as an alternative means to fight against oppression and exploitation and for the emancipation of all black peoples in the world. This study aims to investigate the dialogue between the activisms of black women and pan-Africanist principles in the Black Atlantic diaspora. Based especially on the life and work of activists Claudia Jones, Lélia Gonzalez, and May Ayim, I analyze if and how pan-Africanist principles help us make sense of the activism of these women. I found that these activists not only created strategies that engage with the pan-Africanist principles of liberation, integration, solidarity, and personality, but they also became important thinkers and leaders of movements guided by pan-Africanist principles.