Opinião Pública – Vol. 22, Nº 2 2016
Articles in this issue
Author: Osmany Porto de Oliveira
This article deals with the global diffusion of Participatory Budgeting (PB). Developed in Porto Alegre at the end of the 1980s, this social participation policy has been adopted by about 2,800 governments. The aim of this work is to answer the following questions: Why did PB move from a local policy to a global one? What mechanisms facilitated this movement? Lastly, in what ways was this policy transformed along the process of international diffusion? Relying on an extensive transnational political ethnography, this study found that three mechanisms were operating along the massive diffusion of PB: institutional induction, social construction, and the international circulation of individuals. The argument is that a group of individuals—the "ambassadors of participation"—was fundamental to introducing PB to the agenda of international institutions. The moment that PB was set on the agenda of international institutions its diffusion potential was amplified. The recognition of PB by international organizations reveals the importance that this issue is gaining on a global scale. Although, empirical observation shows that, in spite of the vast diffusion of PB, the meanings given to this policy can be very different according to the actor.
Authors: Rafael da Silva, Euzeneia Carlos e Carla Almeida
This article evaluates the effectiveness of participatory institutions in Brazil by empirically analyzing the municipal councils of social assistance. We process our evaluation via the Effectiveness Participation Index (IEP), which consists of three indicators: a) the degree of institutionalization of the councils; b) the quality of the deliberative processes; and c) the quality of representation. The IEP was constructed using official data on the functioning of the Policy Councils in 2012 (Census Suas Ministério do Desenvolvimento Social) for all municipalities in Brazil. We conclude that there are significant degrees of effectiveness of the participatory institutions in the country due to, on the one hand, the three constituent dimensions of participation—institutionalization, deliberation, and representation—and, on the other, regional and demographic differences between Brazilian municipalities.
Authors: Natália Guimarães Duarte Sátyro, Eleonora Schettini Martins Cunha e Járvis Campos
This paper presents and describes data related to the implementation capacity of social-assistance policy and its spatial distribution. It seeks to understand whether—and to what extent— certain characteristics of municipal bureaucracy can influence results. This paper relies on the Taxa de Execução Financeira Ajustada do Fundo de Assistência Social to present a spatial analysis of variation in the profile of social assistance bureaucracy, according to its roles, types of connections, and educational levels, as well as its implementation capacity and policy management. We use Suas Census indicators from 2010 to 2014, as well as data from the Annual Report on Social Information (Rais) of 2013 and from the Research on the Municipalities of IBGE (Munic). Analysis shows the existence of distinct regional and state patterns concerning employment relationships, as well as the professionalization of bureaucracy, which reveals important variations in bureaucratic capacity. However, the data indicate that the capacity of implementation and management of social assistance policies in municipalities is not related to the type of connections that the bureaucracy's personnel have to stability and professionalization. Rather, these capacities seem to be more directly connected to demands for social assistance than to bureaucratic capacity.
Authors: Fabiana Luci de Oliveira e Luciana Gross Cunha
In this article, we map out studies and methodologies used to build subjective indicators of access to justice, focusing on experiences with and management of conflict. We propose a blended measure of access to justice, based on critical analysis of key studies, and work with a broad understanding of what access to justice means and what a lack of access implies. This definition includes the right to a just resolution of conflicts by any appropriate means (not necessarily via state justice) and also takes into account individuals’ awareness of their rights. This work relies on survey data collected between 2010 and 2014 and covers the procedural and substantive dimensions of access to justice. We have documented state-of-the-art measurement and composition of indicators of access to justice, noting key limitations and ways to overcome them, and emphasizing construct validity and filters used in the definition of access to justice. We conclude from the proposed blended measure that, depending on where emphasis is placed–on conflict or on seeking institutional justice–the phenomenon being measured will be different, as people react in different ways to different types of potentially conflicting situations.
Authors: Luciana Tatagiba e Humberto Meza
This article aims to contribute to the theoretical debate over the relationship between social movements and political parties. The analysis presented relies on a case study of the relationship between the feminist movement and the party system in Nicaragua, during the country's democratic development between 1974 and 2012. The field research was done from 2011 to 2014 and consisted of interviews with leaders of the feminist movement and the various political parties, analysis of key documents, and participant observation in several of the movement's events. In order to respond to certain empirical challenges, this article advances two key debates on the modular nature of autonomy and the intersection zone. In the first debate, we highlight the historical, strategic, and relational nature of autonomy. In the second, we focus on the mutual impacts of this relationship on the actors and political context
Authors: Luciana Panke e Sylvia Iasulaitis
This article analyzes the television spots of female presidential candidates Dilma Rousseff (Brazil), Michelle Bachelet (Chile) and Cristina Kirchner (Argentina) in their respective electoral campaigns. It aims at assessing how these Latin American presidents positioned themselves as women in their campaigns. The research question guiding our analysis was Do campaign positions neutralize or reinforce gender stereotypes? We rely on a specialized literature in order to understand the issues related to gender and its connections to electoral disputes. The empirical analysis was done through content analysis and measured the presence of the theme of "woman" in said television spots. We also analyze the position chosen in other aspects of television ads, assessing the presence of three main codes: iconic, linguistic, and sonorous. The results show that the agenda of gender-related issues has concentrated on ads dealing with motherhood and job creation. In order to overcome gender stereotypes, the candidates were presented in agreement with the attributes perceived as necessary for political leadership, with an emphasis placed on traditionally masculine traits such as self-determination, seriousness, intelligence, competence, and leadership. Analyses of television spots show that in some instances the candidates reproduce gender stereotypes in their campaigns.
Authors: Ricardo Fabrino Mendonça e Ernesto F. L. Amaral
The aim of this article is to discuss the idea of rationality in online debates. Taking a deliberative approach, this article analyzes 2,375 comments about LGBT rights across four different platforms: Facebook, Youtube, News Portals, and Votenaweb (which was specifically designed as a platform for discussions about bills proposed in the Brazilian National Congress). Using reason-giving as a dependent variable, the article tests five hypotheses: (H1) the number of posts presenting arguments for their positions is directly related to the platform on which these comments were posted; (H2) the chances that a post will present arguments is greater when the forum is balanced; (H3) the chances that a post will present arguments is greater when reciprocity is more frequent; (H4) the chances that a post will present arguments is smaller when the level of disrespect is greater; and (H5) the chances that a post will present arguments diminish when the comments are written by anonymous participants. The results show the importance of the nature of the platform and the salience of respect in inducing reason-giving.
Authors: Lauriston de Araújo Carvalho e Daniel Henrique Pereira Espíndula
This article aims at understanding the facts transmitted by the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo about the firearms and ammunition referendum of 2005. Searches on the newspaper’s website were conducted using the following descriptors: referendum; firearm; ammunition. The search resulted in 170 reports, which were analyzed by the Alceste software. The results indicate that the discussion surrounding the referendum was organized into two defined axes of meanings, namely private security and public security, in which themes such as the control of illegal firearms and ammunition are background issues, demonstrating the need to deepen discussions on the topic.
Author: André Bello
This article analyzes the role that social interactions play in shaping correct voting in order to assess the quality of democracy in Brazil. In new democracies, complex political systems—multi-party, personalistic voting, weak partisan identification, and too many candidates in the race—may undermine correct voting. The main argument is that interpersonal networks and social context function as cognitive shortcuts replacing institutional mechanisms. Interpersonal networks and social context are disaggregated into the attributes of conflict and diversity, which distinctively influence correct voting. The results confirm that a social logic of correct voting indeed exists.