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.

Abstract in English:

Can crime victimization affect support for democracy through its effect on satisfaction with democracy? Drawing upon AmericasBarometer data representative of eighteen Latin American countries, this study answers this question by employing an identification strategy that deals with two strong limitations to causal inference with observational data: covariate imbalance between treatment and control groups and unobserved confounders bias. This strategy combines matching, a novel estimation for mediation analysis, regression-with-residuals, sensitivity analyses, and tests that rule out the possibility of reverse causality. Results show that victimization indirectly affects support for democracy through its effect on satisfaction with democracy. Being a crime victim reduces satisfaction with democracy, which decreases support for democracy. No direct effects were found. These findings contribute to the debate on crime and legitimacy by investigating a new causal pathway for the effect of victimization on support for democracy that partially explains the current lack of consensus in the literature. It also demonstrates the importance of disentangling indirect effects from direct effects when studying the effects of crime-related variables on legitimacy.

Abstract in English:

This article looks into Amnesty International's most controversial issue expansion, the incorporation of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ESCR) in its mission statement. It starts with a discussion on global frames drawing from the sociology of transnational movements to reflect on the weight of the North-South dichotomy in AI's understanding of human rights as expressed in its most relevant documents. To this end, we reviewed the annual reports published by the organization from 2001 to 2018 using issue-oriented category-based content analysis, focusing on the parts of the reports dedicated to Brazil every year. We observed that, while national contexts and local sections do matter, the issues AI's traditional northern sections identify as top priorities remain a structuring aspect in how Amnesty International frames human rights. We therefore observe how relevant international dichotomies are in international non-governmental organizations.

Abstract in English:

This article investigates the impact of political and electoral institutions on party system stability in 40 democracies, including Brazil. Party stability is analyzed using the Electoral Party Variation (EPV) indicator, based on the Effective Number of Electoral Parties (ENEP). The political and electoral institutions of interest include electoral magnitude, electoral formula, and an approach derived from Sartori (strong, feeble, and moderate electoral systems). The analysis employs four models using the generalized estimating equation (GEE) method for panel data (40 cases, seven periods). It is observed that the electoral system is efficient in explaining party stability. High average district magnitude, proportional electoral formula, and feeble electoral systems are permissive factors for party system instability. The case of Brazil is not an exception, as the instability of the party system in the country is appropriately interpreted in light of the prevailing political institutions.