Brazilian Political Science Review

8-27

Authors: Angelo Segrillo

Liberalism and Marxism are two schools of thought which have left deep imprints in sociological, political and economic theory. They are usually perceived as opposite, rival approaches. In the field of democracy there is a seemingly in - surmountable rift around the question of political versus economic democracy. Liberals emphasize the former, Marxists the latter. Liberals say that economic democracy is too abstract and fuzzy a concept, therefore one should concentrate on the workings of an objective political democracy. Marxists insist that political democracy without economic democracy is insufficient. The article argues that both propositions are valid and not mutually exclu - sive. It proposes the creation of an operational, quantifiable index of economic democracy that can be used alongside the already existing indexes of political democracy. By using these two indexes jointly, political and economic democracy can be objectively evaluated. Thus, the requirements of both camps are met and maybe a more dialogical approach to democracy can be reached in the debate between liberals and Marxists. The joint index is used to evaluate the levels of economic and political democracy in the transition countries of Eastern Europe.

56-87

Authors: Denilson Bandeira Coêlho

What factors determine the diffusion of social policies? This article exam - ines the launching of conditional cash transfer programs by Brazilian munici - palities to explore this problem. The literature of political science asserts that such programs have been widely implemented because they correspond to an al - ternative policy strategy adopted by governments facing opposition to implement universal public policies. So, political competition would be at the root of CCT launching. This article presents an alternative explanation. From 1995 to 2001, local governments created or emulated the Bolsa Escola Program (BEP) in all regions of the country. Such a path continued after the lauching of the national Bolsa Escola by the federal government. Why did some local governments decide to adopt the national BEP and others did not? To answer these questions, the research tests the influence of structural, internal and external variables on the dissemination of CCT programs. Two main hypotheses are tested. The first as - serts that local political competition is positive for policy diffusion. The second hypothesis claims that party alignment between the municipal and federal levels increases the likelihood of municipalities adopting the federal BEP. The research uses Event History Analysis to test statistically the impact of political incentives on policy diffusion among São Paulo State’s municipalities. Two types of policy diffusion are examined: horizontal and vertical. The findings confirm that polit - ical competition influences the horizontal diffusion among municipalities. Unex - pectedly, vertical diffusion does not occur because of party alignment or political competition. Rather, levels of socioeconomic development drive policy emulation.

11-36

Authors: Adam Przeworski

The article argues that economic inequality inevitably generates politicalinequality, which in turn reproduces economic inequality. Basic concepts areintroduced first along with strong caveats concerning the quality of the crossnationaldata on income distributions; historical patterns of income inequalityare summarized next, and with these preliminaries, a distinction is made betweenredistribution of consumption at a particular time and equalization of incomeearning capacities over time. Following this economic considerations, the articlediscussion moves to political factors that may block redistributions.

53-69

Authors: Francisca Guedes

This paper is concerned with two things: finding an objective and easilyquantifiable measure of government efficiency and testing possible determinantsof government quality. As measures of government efficiency, we used ratios ofinfant mortality rate to health expenditures as a percentage of GDP, and ratios ofdrop out and illiteracy rates to education expenditures as a percentage of GDP.We assume that government efficiency in providing health and education servicesdepends on economic, political and cultural factors.

90-112

Authors: Alfredo Alejandro Gugliano & Andréia Orsato

This article seeks to further the debate on the political participation of women in the framework of a democratic political regime. Foremost, it analyzes women’s representation as elected legislators in Brazilian state legislatures. Accordingly, the article draws on the contributions made thus far by some women authors – linked to a theoretical framework that, as the article unfolds, is presented as the feminist theory – as regards the critique of the model of democracy prevailing in Western societies. Next, we present and discuss an array of data on women’s inclusion in the Legislative Assembly of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, encompassing all female state representatives elected since 1951, when the first gaúcha, as those born in the state like to call themselves, woman legislator took office. The findings in this article seek to advance knowledge of the history of women’s political parliamentary participation, given the scarcity of information on the theme in the context of the aforementioned state legislature, as well as pointing out the main features of female participation in the Rio Grande do Sul State Legislature.