Brazilian Political Science Review

35-56

Authors: José Hernandéz

The aim of this paper is to analyse the relationship between institutional economics of cooperation and the political economy of trust. Transactions costs, principal-agent theory, market power, increasing-returns theory and value creation, strategic management: competitive forces, resource-based theory, organisationtal knowledge and learning, strategic choice theory and collective efficiency theory are reviewed. Lastly, the political economy of trust is sustained.

77-95

Authors: Pedro Neiva

In analyses of female representation in lower houses, the adoption of quotas, the electoral system and the religious aspect have been identified as the main explanatory variables. In the case of upper houses, I see a relationship between their political strength and women’s presence in them: when they are weak, the presence of female representatives tends to be larger, when they are strong, women’s presence is smaller. Furthermore, the article shows that an analysis based solely on the number of seats held by women is insufficient for one to gather the true dimensions of their participation in politics. Evaluating the role and expressiveness of the institutions in which they are present is also necessary.

127-147

Authors: Mónica Salomón & Javier Sánchez

The recent creation of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), an organization of local authorities of universal scope, is the culmination of the emerging process of a new political actor on the international scene. The article describes and analyses some aspects of the interaction between this global political actor-in-the-making and the United Nations (UN) system. The theoretical questions it adresses is how the new global actor has - even if partially - achieved its objectives, given its limited power resources and the opposition of other (apparently) more powerful actors: the central governments that run the UN system. Drawing on the literature on the foreign activities of subnational governments, as well as on the literature on transational actors and the creation of global norms, the proposed explanation highlights the "mixed actor" (partially sovereignty-bound, partially sovereignty-free) character of subnational governments acting internationally.