Traditional Politics and Regime Change in Brazil

by Frances Hagopian

Overview

This book is about politics in Brazil during the military regime of 1964-85 and the transition to democracy. Unlike most books about contemporary Brazilian politics that focus on promising signs of change, this book seeks to explain remarkable political continuity in the Brazilian political system. It attributes the persistence of traditional politics and the dominance of regionally-based, traditional political elites in particular to the manner in which the economic and political strategies of the military, together with the transition to democracy, reinforced the clientelistic, personalistic, and regional basis of state-society relations. The book focuses on the political competition and representation in the state of Minas Gerais.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521414296
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	03/29/1996
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics
Pages:	342
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.87(d)

Table of Contents

List of tables and figures; Preface; Glossary of abbreviations and Portuguese terms; 1. Introduction: traditional politics, new authoritarianism; 2. Oligarchical power and traditional politics in Minas Gerais; 3. The modern political economy of traditional politics; 4. Bureaucratic authoritarianism and the state elite; 5. Back to patronage: state clientelism in Minas Gerais; 6. Authoritarian politics and traditional elites; 7. The traditional political elite and the transition to democracy; 8. Continuity in change: Brazilian authoritarianism and democratization in comparative perspective; Appendix: the Minas elite; References; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"Hagopian's study deserves the epithet landmark or breakthrough." C.E. Landers, Choice

"...it provides a comprehensive and detailed account of politics in an important Brazilian state....Hagopian's ITraditional Politics and Regime Change in Brazil should be read by anyone interested in democracy, development, and the interaction between polticians and the institutions they inhabit." David S. Brown, American Political Review

"...enviable for its first-rate scholarly research. It is also masterfully organized, crisp and deliberate in its presentation, and nicely executed in linking a cleanly specified argument to appropriate and well-documented evidence. Hagopian's discussion is theoretically sensitive, grounded empirically in case materials, and embedded in broader theoretical debates in the literature. The logic of the argument is clear, and Hagopian proceeds carefully to take readers through each step with evidence to show the persistence of the Mineiro traditional elite during three historical moments." Lating American Research Review

From the Publisher