Lula's Brazil at midterm

Journal of Democracy

Volumn 16, Issue 3, 2005, Pages 127-139

  Hunter, Wendy ^a   Power, Timothy J ^b,c  

^a UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN   (United States)

^b FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^c Brazilian Studies Association (BRASA)   (Brazil)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 23744508087     PISSN: 10455736     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1353/jod.2005.0046     Document Type: Review

References (12)

1. See Denise Paraná, Lula, O filho do Brasil (São Paulo: Editora Fundação Perseu Abramo, 2002)
2. and Barry Bearak, "Poor Man's Burden," New York Times Magazine, 27 June 2004.
3. Informative books on the formation and early experiences of the PT are Rachel Meneguello, A formação de um partido, 1979-1982 (Rio de Janeiro: Editora Paz e Terra, 1989)
4. and Margaret Keck, The Workers' Party and Democratization in Brazil (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992).
5. Sources that analyze more recent developments are David J. Samuels, "From Socialism to Social Democracy: Party Organization and the Transformation of the Workers' Party in Brazil," Comparative Political Studies 37 (November 2004): 999-1024;
6. and Paulo Roberto Figueira Leal, O PT e o dilema da representaç ão política (Rio de Janeiro: Editora da Fundação Getúlio Vargas, 2005).
7. Under Lula, the number of cabinet portfolios has expanded to include several new ministries with responsibilities for different dimensions of social policies, and many of the new positions have gone to PT loyalists. This has increased the PT's dominance over its coalition partners. When Cardoso took office in 1995, he had 23 ministries and filled only 6 of them with members of his own PSDB; in contrast, Lula in 2003 had 33 ministries, of which 6 went to nonpartisan technocrats, 7 went to politicians from allied parties, and no fewer than 20 went to members of the PT. See Veja (São Paulo), 9 March 2005, 53.
8. To understand the causes and consequences of party weakness in Brazil, see Scott Mainwaring, Rethinking Party Systems in the Third Wave of Democratization: The Case of Brazil (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999);
9. and Barry Ames, The Deadlock of Democracy in Brazil (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2001).
10. Notably, the one clear departure from past practice is that almost no legislators from other parties have sought to switch to the PT. Clearly, the party discipline, monetary contributions, and scrutiny upon admission required of PT politicians constitute a sacrifice that most Brazilian politicians are not willing to endure. A considerable number have, however, joined other parties in the government coalition, such as the Liberal Front Party and the Brazilian Labor Party.
11. For an informative review of the most recent proposals, see Amaury de Souza, "Political Reform in Brazil, Promises and Pitfalls," Center for Strategic and International Studies, Policy Papers on the Americas, Volume XV, Study 3, April 2004.
12. Anna Ozório de Almeida, "Continuity and Change in the PT Government," Centro Studi di Politica Internazionale Working Paper, September 2004, 18.