Article contents
The Brazilian State in the New Democracy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 January 2018
Extract
How does a country's transition to democracy affect the state? This question is of great importance, given the crucial role that the state has played in the economic, social, and political development of most countries affected by the “third wave” of democratization. Yet this topic has received insufficient scholarly attention. Indeed, definitional assumptions may make this question appear a non-issue: because the state is regarded as more permanent than a political regime, which can change with disturbing frequency, democratic transitions are often assumed to leave the state unchanged. Latin America's “politicized states” (Chalmers, 1977; Power, 1991), however, lack institutional stability. Given the fluidity of state structures in the region, democratization may have a profound effect on the state. It may help institutionalize the state and make it more autonomous from established social forces, or, by contrast, it may further corrode the internal unity and undermine the strength of the state. Because the state has assumed an enormously wide range of responsibilities in Brazil, this country constitutes an especially good case for analysis.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs , Volume 39 , Issue 4 , Winter 1997 , pp. 63 - 94
- Copyright
- Copyright © University of Miami 1997
Footnotes
The author would like to thank Douglas Chalmers, Frances Hagopian, Wendy Hunter, Gabriella Montinola, Anthony Pereira, and two anonymous reviewers for their useful comments.
References
- 6
- Cited by