This paper describes and analyses the results from a pilot study about the exercise of political representation at the local government level, from the viewpoint of city councilors. The key questions that guided this study were: What do councilors perceive as their functions? How do they...

This paper addresses the relationship between social structure and social values in the Brazilian society in light of survey data from a national sample of 3,772 respondents. In addition to examining traditional variables - such as income and education -, the analysis incorporated information on...

This paper examines the discussions that took place during the 2007 National Social Welfare Forum (Forum Nacional da Previdência Social, FNPS) which aimed at discussing long-term reforms to the General Social Security System (Regime Geral da Previdência Social, RGPS). The forum brought...

In this paper, we discuss new data on party affiliations within ministries to characterize party-political appointments in high- and mid-level bureaucracy, from 1999 to 2018. We argue that party cleavages within these organizational structures are significant and, to analyze the variation...

This study analyses the political correlates of the use of provisionary decrees (medidas provisórias) by Brazilian presidents in law-making. It is argued that the intense use of this legislative tool reflects a tacit delegation of agenda powers from the Congress to the Executive branch, and...

This paper describes and analyses political representation at the local level, with emphasis on the representative's choice between adopting clientelistic or universalistic practices. Based on a non-representative sample of 112 local representatives from twelve municipalities of Minas Gerais, we...

This study explains the intensity of redistributive policies of Latin American leftist governments during the so-called "left turn" in the region. Based on theoretical models that analyze the implications of inequality in democracies with different economic and institutional structures, it...

This paper analyzes federal transfers to not-for-profit organizations (NPOs) in the past twelve years in Brazil. We analyze four points: i) the variations in terms of absolute amount of resources transferred to NPOs from the federal government; ii) the proportion of NPOs transfers relatively to...

In a world that claims to value equality, inequality persists and in many ways is even growing, despite the ethical and pragmatic challenges it poses to social, political, and economic life dimensions. Yet, progressive movements, driven by ideals and interests, emphasize the importance of equity...