Resumo em Inglês:

The primary goal of this article is to examine the dynamics of changes in expenditure allocation in Brazil’s federal budget over the past two decades, highlighting periods of incrementalism and punctuation based on the theoretical and methodological assumptions of Punctuated Equilibrium Theory (PET). To achieve this, a database of the approved federal budget from 2000 to 2021 was created, with budget classifications coded into 21 policy domains following the methodology of the Comparative Agendas Project (CAP). Descriptive analyses of the federal government’s expenditures and budget changes were conducted across 21 domains, along with the calculation of the L-Kurtosis indicator to assess the distribution of budget changes and identify their types. The results show that Brazil’s trajectory of budget changes is characterized by punctuations, as indicated by an L-Kurtosis value of 0.657. This pattern stems from a reform agenda initiated in 2003 to expand social policies, which began to reverse after 2015 due to a political, economic, and institutional crisis. Despite the rigidity of Brazil’s budget and institutional constraints, political preferences also play a significant role in shaping government priorities and driving budget changes.

Resumo em Inglês:

This article primarily aims to understand the extent to which women holding key party positions can contribute to improve women candidates' access to public funding for their campaigns. We have looked into the 2018 election to the Chamber of Deputies (Brazil’s lower house of Congress) and present the following hypotheses: the greater presence of women in their parties' key decision-making levels leads to better access for women who ran for office, and left-wing parties have more women on their executive committees and, consequently, better-funded women candidates. We have used data from the Electoral Data Repository and the Party Information Management System, disclosed by Brazil's Superior Electoral Court. With these data, we were able to measure the number of women holding key party positions and the total public funds allocated to women candidates. We have used descriptive statistics and beta regression analysis to work on this information. We observed that the presence of women at the highest ranking positions at the state level could be positively linked to the total funding received by women candidates. Investigations into national and state levels, on the other hand, did not show evidence of our second hypothesis, as left-wing parties performed very similarly to parties across the ideological spectrum.

Resumo em Inglês:

This study examines Brazilian female legislators’ perceptions of gendered political violence by analyzing responses from 61 female federal deputies and 12 female senators (representing 81% of female legislators in office during the 56th legislature) to a self-administered questionnaire on the subject. The data indicate that gendered political violence affects a significant majority of these legislators, with 81% of respondents reporting firsthand experiences. For 90% of the interviewees, this violence discourages women from participating in politics, and according to 78%, it impacts women’s electoral outcomes. Among the legislators who reported experiencing gendered political violence, 62% indicated that it took place within the premises of the Chamber of Deputies or the Senate, and 36.2% within their political parties. Additionally, 54.7% stated that this violence undermines their ability to carry out their mandates effectively. The data indicate that violence against women in the National Congress is systematic, infringes on their rights, compromises their ability to fulfill their mandates, and negatively affects their lives.

Resumo em Inglês:

This paper seeks to contribute to the understanding of variations in subnational policies and the factors that explain them. Some studies attribute these differences to the uneven distribution of state infrastructure and capacity at the subnational level, while others emphasize the role of policy legacies, actors, ideology, ideas, and networks to explain subnational policy variations. This study, analyses variations in policy changes in secondary education across Brazilian states and the factors that influenced them through a qualitative and comparative approach based on data collected through document analysis, survey, and in-depth interviews. The findings indicate that the high level of ambiguity and conflict in national guidelines led to significant variations in state policies. Subnational policies resulted from an intersection between horizontal cooperation, policy legacies, political leadership, and bureaucratic activism, though the influence of these factors varied across states.

Resumo em Inglês:

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s aim to turn Brazil into a global environmental leader has faced three different challenges: conceptual, economic, and political-institutional tensions. In this article, we discuss and analyze how the concept of climate justice, the old tension between development and environmental protection, and the relationship with the Congress and social movements have been reconfigured in Lula’s third term in office. We discuss these tensions in light of Brazil’s environmental history and of the perception of important actors in the socio-environmental arena. Lastly, we address ways to overcome these three tensions by further empowering democratic institutions and practices.

Resumo em Inglês:

This article explores Brazil’s foreign policy related to agribusiness, examining how the Parliamentary Agricultural Front (FPA) leverages its legislative power to influence Brazilian Foreign Policy (BFP) in favour of agribusiness interests. This exploratory study highlights the interests at stake and the formal mechanisms employed by the sector to influence Brazil's international agenda. The analysis covers the period from 2015 to 2022, encompassing two legislative terms under the presidencies of Rousseff (2015-2016), Temer (2016-2018) and Bolsonaro (2019-2022). Methodologically, the study qualifies as research in progress, presenting partial results from an ongoing analysis of FPA activities in the Legislative on foreign policy issues. To this end, the study takes a qualitative approach, drawing on data collected from the House of Representatives database. After discussing the subfield of Foreign Policy Analysis, its focus on interest groups, and the role of the Legislative in foreign policy. Along with a brief overview of agribusiness in Brazilian foreign policy, the study concludes that the FPA uses formal mechanisms, such as requirements, assessments, recommendations, legislative proposals, and the creation of parliamentary groups, to influence Brazilian foreign policy in favour of agribusiness interests.