Débora Alves Maciel

Abstract: Analisa-se o enfoque que ve as relacoes entre as instituicoes juridicas e as instituicoes politicas sob o prisma da "judicializacao". Dois livros recem-publicados nessa area (Ministerio Publico e politica no Brasil, de Rogerio Bastos Arantes, e A democracia e os tres poderes no Brasil, organizado por Luiz Werneck Vianna) sao examinados.

Abstract: Relying on a conceptual synthesis provided by the Political Process and New Social Movement theories, this article analyses the strategic and symbolic dimensions of the Brazilian environmental movement's formation process. The authors argue that three political opportunity structures - Redemocratization, Constituent Assembly and Rio 92 - provided the parameters for environmental groups to arise and face common dilemmas regarding their frames and mobilizing strategies. Through this process, a shared identity came about.

Abstract: In the past decade, environmental activism in Brazil has experienced a substantial tactical shift. Many activists have gained access to national political offices, the most prominent of whom is Marina Silva at the Ministry of the Environment. This research shows that protest groups of the 1980s paved the way for a professionalized form of environmental activism that relies on a firm-like organizational profile and expert staffing. Today, far away from confrontation, environmental activism in Brazil builds on cooperative relationships between political authorities and scientific elites. In this article, the authors argue that the transmutation of the profile of activism was largely stimulated by the availability of new resources and opportunities and the presence of national and transnational alliances available after Rio-92. The argument presented here draws on an analysis of the two biggest and most important environmental organizations in Brazil, namely, the SOS Atlantic Forest Foundation and the Socio-...

Abstract: O artigo analisa a dinâmica da reconstrucao do Ministerio Publico (MP), focalizando a mobilizacao de promotores e de procuradores de justica, no periodo de 1974-1985. Argumentamos que as caracteristicas da transicao politica brasileira foram decisivas para o processo de mudanca da instituicao que ganhou status constitucional em 1988. A liberalizacao do regime militar modificou os vinculos entre juristas, oposicao partidaria e movimentos pro-democracia. A conexao do movimento institucional com as elites politicas dissidentes e a densa rede de ativismo em torno de novos conflitos sociais permitiu ao Ministerio Publico experimentar novas estrategias de acao coletiva, ganhar visibilidade politica e, assim, tornar-se alternativa viavel para o sistema politico responder as pressoes sociais para a democratizacao do judiciario.

Abstract: Report on a meta-case study analysis of 100 studies of citizen engagement across 20 countries.

Abstract: In the last two decades, social movement scholars have brought the frontiers of the field into question. Some have advocated for the substitution of "social movements" for "civil society", while others have proposed to rename the field as the study of "contentious politics". In both of these cases, the justification is that the field of social movements has become too narrow, empirically as well as theoretically. The article discusses these reformist initiatives and identifies a problem they have in common: the lack of attention to numerous forms of interaction between actors involved with social movements situated both outside and inside the state. We offer a theoretical discussion based on the results of empirical research undertaken in Brazil on this issue, which, we argue, help us better understand the relationship between states and social movements. We also argue that the recent literature on social networks provides analytical clues to think about activism from within state structures.

Abstract: This article examines the combination of interaction routines of the State with social movements in the designing of public policy during the Lula government in three sectors: rural development, urban policy and public security. The central argument is that in a context characterized by unprecedented permeability of the State, social movements and State actors created a historical pattern of State-society interaction. Under the motto "participation of civil society", social movements and state actors resorted to a repertoire of diversified interaction, which included institutional participations, protests, occupying posts in the pubic bureaucracy and personal relationships, with varying emphases depending on past patterns of State-society interactions in each sector.