Abstract This article provides a review on the main arguments of the book ‘Urban Power: Democracy and Inequality in São Paulo and Johannesburg’ by Ben Bradlow, aiming to situate it in a broader contemporary discussion in the Urban Studies literature. Drawing from the premise that urban inequalities in informal settlements are the greatest challenge facing local governments today, the author asks why some cities are more effective than others at reducing inequalities in the built environment. By comparing changes in […]

In ‘Property Threats and the Politics of Anti-Statism’, Ondetti (2021) examines the variations in taxation across Latin America, especially regarding total tax burden and state size. Adopting an actor-based approach, the author emphasizes the role of threats to property rights as the leading cause for lower tax burdens. Ondetti (2021) argues that attempts at expropriation triggered backlash reactions, leading to path-dependent anti-state coalitions aimed at preventing further expropriation and higher taxation. The book contrasts the experiences of Chile and Mexico […]

In Felipe Freller’s work (2021) titled ‘Quando É Preciso Decidir’ (When Decisions Must Be Made), the focus is on exploring the complexities involved in decision-making in the context of modern democracy: How to make decisions, if, at times, the executive is faced with situations that were not anticipated by the legislative? How to make decisions when popular sentiment does not support the preservation of an egalitarian regime, and citizens lean toward calls for a reaction? And when the act of […]

This review essay focuses on a recent publication edited in 2023 by Auriane Guilbaud, Franck Petiteville, and Frédéric Ramel: ‘Crisis of Multilateralism? Challenges and Resilience’. Their work was developed in collaboration with various authors from the research group on multilateralism — GRAM, an international Francophone network of researchers specializing in the study of multilateralism, headquartered at Sciences Po Paris. The book’s primary aim is to analyze the current challenges faced by multilateralism, as well as its transformations, within a conceptual […]

A recent wave of publications in the field of corruption studies cannot help but take the politics that is deeply embedded into the topic seriously. After the 1990s and 2000s witnessed the rise of a largely economics-inspired anti-corruption industry that influenced from public policy to academic research, now, as many of the remedies of that industry failed to work as imagined, it is about time to take stock. Lucio Picci’s (2024) ‘Rethinking Corruption’ is an essential contribution to this growing […]

The ongoing global climate emergency has sparked renewed interest in transitioning away from carbon-based economies towards renewable energy sources. While there exists a growing body of literature exploring the conditions, incentives, and processes of adopting solar and wind power worldwide, most of this research primarily focuses on advanced industrialized nations and China, with still considerably less studies on other developing countries. Kathryn Hochstetler’s latest book (2021), ‘Political economies of energy transition: wind and solar power in Brazil and South Africa’ […]

Regarding one of the founders of Political Communication in Brazil, this praise may seem only a protocol compliment. But the recently published book ‘Mirrors of Whiteness: Media, Middle-Class Resentment, and the Rise of the Far Right in Brazil’, by Mauro Porto, a professor and researcher at Tulane University, in New Orleans, is both an urgent and welcome work. The book is pedagogic regarding the differences of class, race and geographic origin in Brazil, and serves as a document both for […]

(Prins, Nomi. Permanent Distortion: How the Financial Markets Abandoned the Real Economy Forever. New York: PublicAffairs, 2022) In the mid-1980s, the German sociologist Ulrich Beck penned his seminal work, warning about the emergence of what he called the ‘Risk Society’ (BECK, 1992). This concept challenged the prevailing generational, cultural, social, and economic paradigms of the time. This era marked the widespread adoption of new technologies across all facets of life, the definitive entry of women into the workforce, and the […]

What challenges are posed for building analytical frameworks and empirical studies on regional integration processes in the South? The authors aim to contribute to this debate by producing a detailed empirical analysis of Brazil’s foreign policy regarding the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) and South American regional integration. From a theoretical-methodological standpoint, the authors introduce an important innovation in this work, with a multilevel analysis of the Mercosur regional integration process, looking into the domestic, regional, and systemic levels. […]

The book ‘Fighting Falsehoods: Suspicion, Analysis, and Response’, by Irene Rubin, published in 2022, provides a unique perspective on a topic that contemporary societies around the world have been concerned about: the spread of fake news and how to fight it. The book adopts a perspective of individual empowerment of citizens and addresses possibilities and strategies to fight this problem individually. […]

(Da Ros, Luciano and Taylor, Matthew M. Brazilian Politics on Trial: Corruption Reform under Democracy. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2022) The crisis of liberal democracies is perhaps the main topic in political science in this century. Its relevance goes beyond the boundaries of academia, as attested by the number of books on authoritarianism and democratic backsliding making their way onto bestseller lists. Brazil can undoubtedly be included as a case study representative of this process in which democratic institutions are […]

Among the themes frequently studied by Brazilian social movement’s scholars is the relationship between movements and the state. The Lula administrations (2003-2010) were marked by intense state-society interactions, which allowed for important theoretical and analytical advances (ABERS and BULOW, 2011; ABERS, SERAFIM and TATAGIBA, 2014; BLIKSTAD, 2012; DOWBOR, 2012; DOWBOR et al. 2018; GUTIERRES, 2018; GURZA LAVALLE et al., 2018; NASCIMENTO, 2012; SILVA and SCHMITT, 2012; SILVA and OLIVEIRA, 2011; TATAGIBA and TEIXEIRA, 2021; TEIXERA, 2013). The ‘mutual constitution’, the […]