Resumo em Inglês:

In multiparty presidential regimes, the head of the Executive manages a heterogeneous political base through a series of instruments. Among these tools, the use of patronage in appointments for governmental positions and the deployment of pork barrel to please congressional representatives have been highlighted by the literature as the glue that holds together multiparty coalitions. However, current studies neglect the role of politicians as active actors in multiparty presidential regimes in channeling resources to their constituencies and parties when holding a cabinet position. This paper contributes to the literature by merging these two tools of coalition maintenance. We analyze a complimentary strategy that benefits party leaders in the coalition by studying the relation of top-level cabinet appointments and grant transfers to subnational governments. Using data from Brazil, a paradigmatic case of multiparty presidential regime, we intend to answer the following question: Are ministries in Brazil being used to please ministers’ constituency and party allies? Using social networking analysis and econometrics for the period between 2011 and 2014, we provide evidence that ministers use their position to transfer funding to districts governed by fellow party members and not to their own political strongholds following a partisan pattern instead of a personal one.

Resumo em Inglês:

This paper advances our understanding of the Brazilian IR scholarship by exploring the topics addressed and the geographic scope adopted by its authors, tracing their evolution over time. We utilize data from 2417 master’s theses and doctoral dissertations from all IR graduate programs in the country, spanning the years 1987 to 2018. By employing a structural topic model, we identify latent topics present in the abstracts of these documents. This analysis not only allows us to trace a thematic profile of the Brazilian IR scholarship but also provides evidence that the expansion of the Brazilian IR scholarship in the 2000s has led to 01. an increased diversity of topics explored by researchers, and 02. analyses with a broader geographic scope, extending beyond the immediate region. Therefore, as the Brazilian IR scholarship has consolidated, there has been a transition from a policy-oriented approach to a more active involvement in international debates across different subjects and regions.

Resumo em Inglês:

How does the election of far-right populist leaders contribute to the environmental crisis? We delved into this question by conducting an in-depth case study on the impact of Jair Bolsonaro's government (2019-2022) on the rise of deforestation rates in the Legal Amazon. Our focus was on forest deforestation oversight, the main tool for enforcing Brazilian environmental policy against deforestation, particularly in the short term. Since 2019, deforestation rates in the Amazon have surged to concerning levels, identified as the primary driver of greenhouse gas emissions in Brazil. Consequently, controlling deforestation poses a significant challenge for the country to meet its international climate goals and agreements. Our research is grounded in four theoretical approaches: state capacities; populism and public administration; political discourse and populism; and dismantling of public policies. We used process tracing, a case study method designed to make detailed inferences about the existence of a causal mechanism. Formulating empirical propositions and gathering account, trace, and pattern evidence, we hypothesized and tested a mechanism consisting of three parts: discourse, dismantling, and reduction of policy outputs.

Resumo em Inglês:

Abstract This study delves into the thematic and methodological configuration of Brazilian Political Science. Through the study of the relational dynamics between different research agendas and their specific approaches, we identified the centrality of certain themes and the methodological density within Brazilian Political Science. We conducted an analysis of 1,849 PhD theses and Master dissertations completed between 2013 and 2020 in eleven Postgraduate Programs. Our examination encompassed titles, abstracts, and keywords in these works, with data sourced from the CAPES theses and dissertations Catalog. The thematic network showed the emancipation of this academic field, revealing the consolidation of five distinct thematic communities. These communities encompass the major canonical themes of mainstream Political Science: 01. political theory, 02. State, government, and international relations, 03. social actors, participation, and public policies, 04. political institutions and State powers, and 05. parties, elections, and legislative studies. The methodological network revealed a semantic structure that mirrors this thematic division, with each community exhibiting unique styles, research methods, and investigative techniques. These findings are in line with assessments emphasizing the institutionalization of Brazilian Political Science. This institutionalization is manifested in the predominance of research themes intricately linked to politics (and not to the economy, society, etc.) and greater methodological refinement.

Resumo em Inglês:

This article analyzes how Nature-based Solutions are integrated into the urban agenda in Brazilian cities. We sought to understand the co-benefits of those strategies, the main facilitators, their potentials and limitations. This article fills in the gaps of the research on Nature-based Solutions through a political science approach, providing more elements to analyze climate governance in the urban context and is based on the experiences in the Brazilian context. We analyzed two cases in depth, namely the cities of Campinas and Santos. We analyzed official government documents and attended events and meetings that took place between local governments and partner institutions. The results showed that Nature-based Solutions are being integrated into urban planning and development through existing sectoral policies and the regulation of specific policies. Specific institutional arrangements directed towards the challenges of environmental change were important facilitators of the strategies in both cities, driven mainly by the participation of local governments in projects led by cooperation networks of municipalities and international cooperation agencies. We verified a potential for social innovation based on the inclusion of gender issues, the involvement of vulnerable social groups in the planning of actions and a greater understanding of ecosystem services and the co-benefits of NbS, mainly by public managers. The strategies have the potential to be replicated, which generates social learning. There are knowledge gaps regarding the co-benefits of the analyzed strategies, as well as the generated impacts.

Resumo em Inglês:

Climate change is on its way to significantly impact the world economy and people’s wellbeing. It is one of the most unequal problems faced by humankind, where those who caused the problem (richer people) are much better protected from its impacts, while those at greatest risk are the poor people who contributed least to climate change. Solutions to the problem have been negotiated by countries under the UNFCCC, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which has proven incapable of addressing the problem at the required speed. Alternative arrangements are discussed where focus should be on a much narrower set of countries responsible for the problem and capable of financing worldwide solutions.