The present historical moment may seem a particularly inopportune time to review Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam's latest exploration of civic decline in America. After all, the outpouring of volunteerism, solidarity, patriotism, and self-sacrifice displayed by Americans in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks appears to fly in the face of Putnam's central argument: that \"social capital\" -defined as \"social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them\" (p. 19)'has declined to dangerously low levels in America over the last three decades. However, Putnam is not fazed in the least by the recent effusion of solidarity. Quite the contrary, he sees in it the potential to \"reverse what has been a 30to 40-year steady decline in most measures of connectedness or community.\"' As an example of how the current \"war on terrorism\" could generate a durable civic renewal, Putnam points to the burst in civic practices that occurred during and after World War II, which he says \"permanently marked\" the generation that lived through it and had a \"terrific effect on American public life over the last half-century.\" 3 If Americans can follow this example and channel their current civic

Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community

Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity

Originally published in Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books, 1994, Vol 39(2), 225. Reviews the book, The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion by John Zaller (1992). The author's commendable effort to specify a model of mass opinion formation offers readers an introduction to the prevailing vi

The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion.

Review of The people's choice: How the voter makes up his mind in a presidential campaign.

Presidents and Assemblies: Constitutional Design and Electoral Dynamics

In new democracies party systems are often young, so partisan cues and roots in the electorate tend to be weak. The results, in many instances, include volatile campaigns with comparatively high degrees of short-term preference change among voters. We explore the mechanisms of voter volatility and, more broadly, the ways in which citizens learn about issues and candidates in weak-party systems. We claim that citizens in such settings rely heavily upon persuasive information gathered from their immediate social contexts. Utilizing a unique panel survey implemented during Brazil’s historic 2002 presidential election, we demonstrate the importance of political discussion within social networks and neighborhood context for explaining preference change during election campaigns. We also demonstrate the concrete political consequences of social context by showing how candidate momentum runs can be driven by waves of discussion.

Social Context and Campaign Volatility in New Democracies: Networks and Neighborhoods in Brazil's 2002 Elections

The emerging literature on executive decree authority has generated important insights, but it has tended to select on the dependent variable (decrees), rather than view decrees as one of several possible ways that presidents can initiate policies This article examines the conditions under which presidents resort to extraordinary rather than ordinary means of legislative initiative Unilateral action theory claims that presidents will resort to decrees in unfavorable political environments, while delegation theory claims that decrees will flourish when the president is more politically secure A study of four Brazilian presidents between 1988 and 1998 yields inconsistent support for both theories Presidential popularity is only weakly related to the use of decree authority, but executive-legislative relations—especially coalition management via multiparty cabinets—is a more reliable predictor Neither unilateral action theory nor delegation theory can fully account for the wide variation in the legislat

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Under What Conditions Do Presidents Resort to Decree Power? Theory and Evidence from the Brazilian Case

This article analyzes different election strategies adopted by Members of the Brazilian House of Representatives seeking reelection in 1998. The analysis focuses on electoral gains provided by strategies based on local and national political dynamics. At first sight these two forces appear to lead Representatives in opposite directions, but this is not actually the case. Our available evidence leads us to believe that national performance by Members of the House is guided by the search for benefits that can be used at the local level and thus increase their odds for political survival and electoral success.

O que é que o reeleito tem? Dinâmicas político-institucionais locais e nacionais nas eleições de 1998 para a Câmara dos Deputados

Successful re-election strategies in Brazil: the electoral impact of distinct institutional incentives

O presente artigo analisa o impacto de ser beneficiario do Programa Bolsa Familia do governo federal na decisao de voto na eleicao de 2006 e na avaliacao atual do Presidente Lula da Silva e contribui para a crescente literatura que explora o impacto desse programa na distribuicao de voto em Lula. Contudo, diferentemente de outros estudos, sao analisados aqui dados ao nivel individual, testando um modelo estatistico multivariado em uma amostra probabilistica nacional usando o Barometro das Americas de 2008. Os resultados indicam um forte impacto de ser beneficiario do programa no voto em Lula e em avaliacoes positivas de seu desempenho.

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Lucio Rennó

Papers

Social Context and Campaign Volatility in New Democracies: Networks and Neighborhoods in Brazil's 2002 Elections

Under What Conditions Do Presidents Resort to Decree Power? Theory and Evidence from the Brazilian Case

O que é que o reeleito tem? Dinâmicas político-institucionais locais e nacionais nas eleições de 1998 para a Câmara dos Deputados

Successful re-election strategies in Brazil: the electoral impact of distinct institutional incentives

Bolsa Família e voto na eleição presidencial de 2006: em busca do elo perdido