Democratizing Brazil

Based on an in-depth examination of the Brazillian case, this book argues that we need to rethink important theoretical issues and empirical realities of party systems in the third wave of democratization.

Power (political science, Florida International University) offers an appraisal of Brazilian democracy, focusing on implications of certain political continuities in the postauthoritarian era. He addresses tensions between authoritarian legacies and democratic institution-building in Brazil's New Republic (1985- ), and considers the juxtaposition of continuity and change as reflected in the world of professional politicians and in the institutions that politicians inhabit. He also poses questions concerning individual politicians' political survival in the transition from military dictatorship to democratic regime, and asks what effect their behavior and attitudes may have on the consolidation of democracy. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR

Brazil has the tragic distinction of having endured the longest military-authoritarian regime in South America. Yet the country is distinctive for another reason: in the 1970s and 1980s it witnessed the emergence and development of perhaps the largest, most diverse, most radical, and most successful women's movement in contemporary Latin America. This book tells the compelling story of the rise of progressive women's movements amidst the climate of political repression and economic crisis enveloping Brazil in the 1970s, and it devotes particular attention to the gender politics of the final stages of regime transition in the 1980s. Situating Brazil in a comparative theoretical framework, the author analyzes the relationship between nonrevolutionary political change and changes in women's consciousness and mobilization. Her engaging analysis of the potentialities for promoting social justice and transforming relations of inequality for women and men in Latin America and elsewhere in the Third World makes this book essential reading for all students and teachers of Latin American politics, comparative social movements and public policy, and women's studies and feminist political theory.

As the first legal mass party of the left in Brazil's recent history, the Workers' Party has reflected and contributed to the country's transition from military rule to democracy. Keck describes its origins and formative years in the context of the growing political opposition to military rule.

In this book, Porto analyzes the role of TV Globo in the democratization of Brazil. TV Globo, one of the world's largest media conglomerates, has a dominant position in Brazil's communications landscape. It also exports telenovelas to more than 130 countries and has established joint ventures with transnational media conglomerates. Beginning in the mid-1990s, TV Globo began a process of "opening," replacing its authoritarian model of journalism with a more independent reporting style. Representations of Brazil in prime time telenovelas have also shifted. Given this shift, Porto considers some of the following questions: •What explains these changes in Brazil's most powerful media company? •How are they related to processes of political and social democratization? •How did TV Globo's opening affect Brazil's emerging democracy, especially in terms of the quality of political accountability mechanisms? Porto uses the Brazilian case of TV Globo to analyze the larger links between democratization, civil society mobilization, and media change in transitional societies.

The civilian government inaugurated in Brazil in March 1985, following twenty-one years of military rule, is the culmination of a slow process of liberalization that has brought greater freedom of political expression, organization, and activity. How the Sarney government responds to the challenges it faces and the institutional choices it must make will shape Brazil’s political evolution for years to come. Should Brazil develop a democratic system, it would be the third most populous democracy in the world. Political trends in Brazil are therefore of considerable significance to Latin America and the United States. In this comprehensive analysis of the forces pushing democratization forward, those opposing it, and the contradictions created by the ad hoc nature of the dynamics between the two, the contributors examine the legacy of two decades of authoritarian rule, the choices facing the civilian government, and possible future developments.

The process of user-centered innovation: how it can benefit both users and manufacturers and how its emergence will bring changes in business models and in public policy. Innovation is rapidly becoming democratized. Users, aided by improvements in computer and communications technology, increasingly can develop their own new products and services. These innovating users—both individuals and firms—often freely share their innovations with others, creating user-innovation communities and a rich intellectual commons. In Democratizing Innovation, Eric von Hippel looks closely at this emerging system of user-centered innovation. He explains why and when users find it profitable to develop new products and services for themselves, and why it often pays users to reveal their innovations freely for the use of all.The trend toward democratized innovation can be seen in software and information products—most notably in the free and open-source software movement—but also in physical products. Von Hippel's many examples of user innovation in action range from surgical equipment to surfboards to software security features. He shows that product and service development is concentrated among "lead users," who are ahead on marketplace trends and whose innovations are often commercially attractive. Von Hippel argues that manufacturers should redesign their innovation processes and that they should systematically seek out innovations developed by users. He points to businesses—the custom semiconductor industry is one example—that have learned to assist user-innovators by providing them with toolkits for developing new products. User innovation has a positive impact on social welfare, and von Hippel proposes that government policies, including R&D subsidies and tax credits, should be realigned to eliminate biases against it. The goal of a democratized user-centered innovation system, says von Hippel, is well worth striving for. An electronic version of this book is available under a Creative Commons license.