Hombres de letras: el pensamiento político social del México posrevolucionario

Homens de letras foram quase todos os intelectuais mais importantes do pensamento político social do México pós-revolucionário: literatos, ensaístas, nacionalistas de diversos nacionalismos e revolucionários de uma maneira que pouco tem a ver com as convicções revolucionárias do resto da América Latina. As páginas deste artigo tentam fornecer ao mesmo tempo um panorama e uma interpretação geral dessa tradição intelectual, baseando-se na identificação de determinantes de longo prazo que foram herdadas tanto do processo de construção nacional como da revolução de 1910, que deu origem ao Estado moderno mexicano. O texto assinala algumas das especificidades principais sobre as quais se poderia refletir para compreender as diferenças entre a tradição intelectual mexicana e a brasileira.Mexico has a long tradition of political and social thinkers. This article is, at the same time, a general view of Mexico's post-revolutionary intelligentsia and an attempt to explain its most singular characteristics in a scope of long term determinations. These determinations were part of the heritage of the independence and national processes and they also go through the 1910's revolution, ending with the consolidation of the post-revolutionary State. The article highlights some of the peculiarities that differentiate the Mexican intellectual tradition from the Brazilian one

Incitación para recuperar el futuro. Una lectura de la Razón Esperanzada de Ernst Bloch

This article intends to stimulate the study of the german philosopher’s work, which is contemporary but paradoxically forgotten. It examines some key elements of Bloch’s theory, its academic and political reception and the main categories that support his Philosophy of Hope. Based on his differentiation between utopia and Hope, the article finishes discussing the importance of Bloch’s criticism towards Eastern Europe and making some suggestions on the analysis of the crisis of the socialist utopia.Este texto visa estimular o resgate e a releitura da obra do filósofo alemão, contemporânea e atual, porém paradoxalmente esquecida. Para isso, percorre em primeiro lugar as principais características do discurso blochiano, a recepção acadêmica e política decorrente delas, e, em seguida, as categorias centrais que sustentam sua Filosofia da Esperança. Baseado na diferença blochiana entre utopia e Esperança, o artigo encerra discutindo a pertinência da crítica do filósofo da Esperança ao Leste Europeu e sugerindo algumas lições para se pensar a crise da utopia socialista

Associations and the exercise of citizenship in new democracies : evidence from São Paulo and Mexico City

A well-established body of democratic theory suggests that associations are the schools of democracy and, because they produce civic and active citizens, are vital to the quality of democracy. In this paper we find that this may not be the case in newer democracies with authoritarian legacies. Survey research in the large urban centers of São Paulo and Mexico City reveals that citizens who participate in associations are more likely to actively pursue a range of rights and entitlements, but this participation does not improve the quality of their relations with government. Participation in associations does not make it more likely that an individual has the type of direct relations to government that approximate the democratic ideal, and that suggests that public officials treat citizens as legal equals and carriers of rights and entitlements. Instead, associations are as likely to reinforce the detached, brokered, or contentious relations to government that are common in newer democracies and vary in their distance from the democratic ideal. Rather than focus on voting behaviour or partisan activities, we explore the civil component of active citizenship that operates when citizens’ seek access to the public goods necessary for enjoyment of the rights and entitlements constitutive of contemporary citizenship. Keywords: associations; citizenship; citizens; democratic theory; inequality; rule of law; political participatio

The backstage of civil society : protagonisms, networks, and affinities between civil organisations in São Paulo

The extraordinary attention raised by civil society in the academic world and in national and international circuits of public policymakers has paradoxically contributed to overshadow civil organisations, their diversity, the logics of their actions, and the dynamics of their interaction with other actors. Thus in spite of such success – and, to a large degree, due to it – surprisingly little is known about the modus operandi of civil organisations. By penetrating the ‘backstage’ of civil society, this paper intends to bring up and understand issues that are not often addressed in literature as well as to advance in generating answers based on empirical knowledge. More precisely, applying network analysis to relational data from a survey conducted in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, in 2002, the following pages will address how do civil organisations work? That is, which are the distinct logics of action and internal interaction dynamics that organise the universe of those societal actors? In order to allow its systematic empirical treatment, the answering of such a question will be entirely relational and will be done through network analysis. This paper brings at least three interesting findings: firstly, there is a remarkable diffuse connectivity between São Paulo-based civil organisations; secondly, it is a highly hierarchised universe of actors where popular organisations, NGOs, and coordinating bodies occupy central positions, privileged by higher capability for action and choice, while clearly peripheral neighbourhood associations, community associations, and service non-profit organisations are dependent upon the former group and have limited options for action; thirdly, preferential links were found between certain types of organisations. Such links always follow the same direction: from peripheral organisations towards those with more reach and capability for action or, not surprisingly, from privileged organisations to other equally privileged ones. Keywords: Civil society, network analysis, civil organisations, São Paulo

Who participates? : civil society and the new democratic politics in São Paulo, Brazil

This paper explores the participation of collective civil society actors in institutional spaces for direct citizen participation in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. The data was produced by a unique survey of civil society actors who work for, or with, sectors of the lower-middle class, the working class, and the urban poor. The paper identifies factors that influence the propensity of civil society actors to participate in three types of institutions: the participatory budget, the constitutionally mandated policy councils, and other local participatory councils and programmes. Many political leaders, policy-makers and researchers believe that such forms of direct citizen participation can help democratise and rationalise the state, as well as provide politically marginalised populations with a say in policy. Whether these hopes materialise depends in part on the answer(s) to a question the literatures on civil society, citizen participation and empowered participation have not addressed – Who Participates? Contrary to the focus on autonomy in much of the work on civil society, the statistical findings support the claim that collective actors with relations to institutional actors, and the Workers’ Party and State actors in particular, have the highest propensity to participate. The findings also support the idea that the institutional design of participatory policy-making spaces has a significant impact on who participates, and that this impact varies by type of civil society actor. Unlike what has been found in research on individual citizen participation, there is no evidence that the “wealth” of collective actors influences participation

In whose name? : political representation and civil organisations in Brazil

There is now considerable evidence that civil organisations have become de facto and de jure representatives of particular segments of the population and interests in the design, implementation, and monitoring of public policy. This paper explores two questions that are becoming increasingly important in the debate on the role of “civil society” in contemporary democracy: Who do civil organisations represent when they act as representatives in the polity; and, in what terms is this representation constructed? The role of civil organisations in political representation has received little or no attention in the research agendas on the reconfiguration of representation or on the democratising of democracy. Furthermore, there are no wellestablished theoretical models beyond the classic electoral or membership ones which set out how civil organisations could establish their representativeness. The vast majority of civil organisations in middleand low-income countries, however, are not membership based and few make use of electoral procedures to authorise a mandate or establish accountability. This paper examines which organisations define themselves as political representatives and the forms of representation they are constructing. It also explores some of the possible consequences of different forms of representation for democracy. The paper draws on findings of a survey of civil organisations – that is, neighbourhood or community associations, membership organisations, NGOs, and coordinators of networks of these organisations – in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. We find that organisations that publicly claim to be representatives of particular publics in fact do engage in extensive representation activities; and, that the dynamics of representation among civil organisations are closely related to those of traditional political channels of representation. Furthermore, we find that the congruency arguments civil organisations make publicly to support their representativeness are crystallising around a small number of notions of representation. The most common are mediation, proximity, and services. The least common are identity, electoral, and membership

Contextual Politics of Service Delivery Reforms: Lessons from Delhi, Mexico City and São Paulo Comparison

Little attention has been given to the contextual politics of service delivery reforms. By focusing on cases of reform in the healthcare sector and, to a lesser extent, in the main policies in the social service sector in India, Mexico and Brazil, this article explores two dimensions of analysis which have enormous relevance in understanding the reach and effectiveness of service delivery reforms: (1) the historical timing of reforms and sectorial baselines, and (2) the degree and institutional locus of local discretion in policy. Findings show that depending on both dimensions, there is an extraordinary variation as to the degree, interests involved and meaning of changes which, in theory, correspond to these countries` commitment to the service delivery reforms, However, consideration of the contextual politics is relevant not for the sake of diversity but for the similarities that this diversity reveals, pointing to underlying analytic dimensions that receive attention in this article