Ser bacharel e professor: sentidos e relações entre o bacharelado e a docência universitária

The need to research about meanings and relationships between individuals with Bachelor s degrees and Teaching can be considered an exercise capable of aiding in the comprehension of the very performance of the Bachelor as teacher. The guiding question of this study asks: what relationships are established by Bachelors, who are teachers, between their professional education and their performance as a teacher? My objective is to understand the meanings attributed by the Bachelor teachers to teaching at the university level, seeking indicators about the relationships established by them, between their professional education and being a teacher. For this, the methodology used was the Comprehensive Interview, which permits, through the individual s oral discourse, the interpretation of meanings and values expressed by the teachers about their actions. The research is done through oral discourse collected in interviews and from these I analyze the elements that are revealed, and those which help me in the development of this object of study. I understand that the contribution about the possibilities of action and continued education for Bachelors who act as instructors in Higher Education is increasingly necessary, through research, because through continuing education teachers can revisit their actions and reformulate meanings they attribute to teaching as a profession. I consider the debate about meanings about teaching and the relationships with the initial education is not only necessary in the investigation of the Bachelors who act as professors, but also the credentialed teachers, because the teacher s sense of identity and their professional development is constructed through a historical process and in relation to the alternative positioning in the contexts of which they are a part

A formação pós-graduada em ensino de ciências naturais e matemática de docentes do IFRN: implicações na atuação docente

This research part of the educational context of the Federal Rio Grande do Norte, through the resumption of legal frameworks that characterize it as an institution belonging to the Federal Network of Professional Education and Technology Brazilian, with a focus on continued education policies for the servers who work there specifically teachers, especially those who have their work in the Teaching of Natural Science and Mathematics. To do this the cut in an agreement between the IFRN and UFRN PPGECNM through the professional master's degree Teaching of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. This agreement as we have research collaborators 08 master teachers who graduated in the period 2004 to 2010, so we undertook a qualitative and quantitative research aimed to conduct the study in general terms of description and analysis of the impacts caused by the formation of masters IFRN in PPGECNM UFRN, taking into account the production of the same academic (dissertation), his performance in the context of the institution and the historical, social, economic and political aspects involved, and also meet the guidelines of the project at the Observatory in 2008 - MEC / CAPES / BSD-P. We used the theoretical options methodological elements of Comprehensive Interview and multireferentiality, our data collection instrument was the main interview, we also performed the analysis of dissertations by lecturers and teachers featured, from the specific descriptors used in catalogs USP / IFUSP (1992, 1996) and UNICAMP / FE / CEDOC (1998) and by other researchers. In analyzing and understanding the speech of the interviewees were able to identify the implications of teacher education in the school context, the motivation to seek the Master; how was the construction of the object of study of the educational product and its use in teaching practice and intervention, the question of the role of master teachers in the school environment to the post master taking into account changes in professional performance and influence in the working groups, how does the use of research and investigation in the classroom after training and between training and educational quality in the context of IFRN. In reading and analysis of the dissertations were able to identify the main focus and under-explored thematic focus as well as the theoretical methodological references. At the end of the research developed a product that could be used for technical analysis studies and assessment in quantitative terms the results achieved by the master teachers IFRN through his training in PPGECNM UFRN

Coevolução e as práticas isomórficas de gestão: um estudo sobre os processos de mudanças institucionais no Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do RN

The Federal Institution for Education, Science and Technology, in its historical path, has been living different changes. The transformations occurred along the way have been determined by coercive forces from the institutional environment, which has became more and more broad and complex throughout the time, obtaining diverse characteristics and new elements such as non institutional factors1 which started to contribute with the other changes. In this context, this work aims to study the isomorphic practices of the managers in the institutional changes process of the IFRN in 1998 and 2008, as of a theoretical coevolutionary perspective (CHILD; RODRIGUES; LEWIN; CARROL; VOLBERDA, 2003). This theory brings a new point of view for the organization analysis to the organizational studies, since it offers a non deterministic and non linear lection of the evolution process, which means, a coevolution. Thus, the organizations and their institutional and non institutional environment auto evolve, auto organize and auto reproduce. Therefore, the institutional and non institutional factors of the macro environment keep a continuous interdependence relationship with the organizations. For the means of this study, it is important to understand that is impossible to comprehend the object, the isomorphic practices, without considering that the previous institutional changes and its evolutions, its continuations and discontinuations, important in the coevolution process. As such, to call upon the institutional historical track is a fundamental aspect to materialize this study, for the recursive movement is indeed present in the coevolution. Another important point to make this research effective is that it is not possible to abdicate from the hologramatic view2 of this study, which considers the object, the isomorphic practices, part of the whole and this whole is also in the parts, therefore it is impossible to comprehend the object of study outside the context where it belongs. With this, as of the objective previously proposed, it is necessary to describe the characteristics of coevolution of the institutional changes related in 1998 and 2008; analyze the dynamic of the isomorphic mechanisms in its respective institutional change process; and describe the lessons learned which the isomorphic practices left to the IFRN, regarding its benefits and difficulties. All these transformations happened through coercive forces3 of the institutional environment. As of the Nineties, these forces became stronger, the environment became broader and more complex, with the emergency of new environmental factors. This study proposed to study the managing process and its practices, related to the micro environment, although it is required to articulate these actions, the demands and requirements from the macro environment. To make this research effective, semi structured interviews have been conducted with the managers who participated in both institutional change processes. In the results analysis, it has been possible to verify the particularity of each change, the one from 1998 with a strong normative action of the managers against coercive forces from the government for the search of recognition and the institutional legitimation and the one in 2008, which has been characterized by the normative action by managers in agreement with the coercive forces from the government, in favor of the government policy for the technological professional education. However, the results analysis it is possible to notice the evidence of a belonging feeling from the interviewed managers

Desempenho e background familiar: um estudo no acesso a uma instituição de ensino técnico federal no Brasil

This paper comprises an investigation on the influence of the variable family backgrounds (father school level, mother school level and family income) over the pupil s performance in admissions examination (entrance test or PROITEC) at Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Rio Grande do Norte (IFRN). From that point of view, the main goal of this research is to analyze the influence of the family background as a determiner of the pupil´s performance in the access to Technical and Professional education at IFRN. Secondary data were used from two databases (entrance test and PROITEC) adding up to 19.226 observations to the vacancies offered in the year of 2013. Aiming at achieving the proposed goal, a conceptual model composed of three hypothesis was developed. The results were presented in four stages: stage I presentation of the descriptive statistical results of the two databases; stage II separation of the campi in clusters; stage III analysis of multiple regressions; stage IV analysis of the logistics regressions. Two statistical tests were used to validate the hypothesis: T-test and Wald test. Hypothesis 1 and 2 were confirmed and H3 was refused. The results presented favorable causal connections to the family income and the father school level variables (with bigger effect for fathers with a higher education degree). The mother school level variable did not provide statistical significance for this research. Based on this result, after this work, this institution is to develop a strategic plan to assist in the success rate of students preparing diagnoses in order to diminish the effects of the variables that impacted negatively

Educação profissional: a expansão recente do IFRN e a absorção local dos egressos no mercado de trabalho

This study aims to analyze how IFRN s process of interiorization contributes to endogenization of local and territorial development, more precisely in terms of graduates absorption into the labor market, form of inclusion and increase of income and welfare. The research premise is that the policy of interiorization and expansion of professional and technology education, by decentralizing opportunities, create a differential for the educational and professional trajectory of part of the graduates. This training, however, retain a relative connection with the productive potentialities in the coverage territories. This study includes a review of the literature on education and labor market and a discussion about the role of technical and professional formation for the local development versus the logic of the free market, considering the expansion of public spending for this purpose. For this study two sets of information and data have been collected primarily, with qualitative and quantitative nature. The research with qualitative focus, entitled Pesquisa de Avaliação da Expansão (PAEX), is constituted by series of open interviews applied to institutional representatives, with the purpose of knowing aspects of the interiorization repercussion in the local development process. The research designed to quantity analysis, entitled of the Pesquisa de Acompanhamento de Egressos (PAE), have been put in practice by applying online questionnaire with closed questions to IFRN s former students, aiming to know the form of insertion of the graduates in the labor market and the formation capacity of increasing the welfare, among other things. Empirical data and information fully confirmed the hypothesis of this study, for they really demonstrated that the expansion policy decentralizes opportunities and constitutes an important differential for the professional trajectory of a significant portion of the graduates. However, the graduates employability in the labor market in their territories of coverage is below expectations, due to structural problems of the local economy related to scarcity of jobs, difficulty in wage growth and in professional development. Complementarily, it has been observed institutional difficulties related to the recent implantation process of the policy of professional and technical education in the various campuses of the Institution

Intencionalidades e práticas na construção de metodologias o CEFET-SE

Successive curricular changes that occurred in professional education altered pedagogical practices, and these practices being developed by means of integrating projects, at Centro Federal de Educação Tecnológica de Sergipe (CEFET-SE), between 2001 and 2003, originated some questions which became the study object of this thesis. We search for theoretical support mainly in GEPEM research (GEPEM/UFRN) works and practices in order to analyze elements that emerged from this pedagogical practice. To do so, we take as main reference the research of qualitative approach. We developed documents analysis, interviews, considering three aspects: the scenery where these changes took place, the conception and implementation of the Integrating Projects for what, we ask support in pedagogy of projects studies and principles of interdisciplinary, and contextualization as curriculum structuring elements. This research brought out some difficulties, conflicts and possible consensus in developing the methodological strategies for the Projects. In this process of coexistence of the traditional and the new, of an unavoidable distance between what was thought and what was effectively done, elements for a new pedagogical practice emerged. This could be noticed in terms of participative work, formative moments, teacher s autonomy related to the pedagogical work. A new door could be open to the possibilities of taking conscience of accepting the differences and oneself autoexperimentation. These are the possibilities that make men, not being mere information deposit, can dialog and transform, producing his existence by this means. In the present case, the existence of being teacher, the build himself in the time of possibilities

Políticas de educação profissional técnica e de ensino médio no Brasil: a implementação no CEFET-RN (1998 2008)

This study has analyzed the high school and professional education policies (1998-2008) and their impacts on the Centro Federal de Educação Tecnológica do Rio Grande do Norte. It has presented an analysis and design of the productive restructuring process in the world of work and education, the technical, vocational education and high school policies in Brazil, referring to this period, as well as the changes in Cefet-RN for implementation of Political Guidelines of Vocational, Technical and High School Education. This study is guided by assumptions related to these policies, which are located in different historical moments. It is a study in which subjects are understood as historical and social beings, embedded in the economic, political and cultural rights which, by its actions, can be transformed. It was based on a theoretical framework consistent with the object of research to give it shape and meaning, serving as a parameter to address the problem outlined in research questions. It was used analysis of bibliographical material and specific documents from the Institution, semi-structured interviews with the subjects part of technical and high school. Results show that many of the recommendations in the present high school policies and vocational technical and high school education, implemented in Cefet-RN, for the period 1998-2002, show inconsistencies between what is said and what can be officially established in the pedagogical practice of teachers and professional practice of some graduates. Regarding the integration of vocational education with the high school (2005-2008) in this Institution, the study signaled that its prioritization failed to materialize in full, in Cefet-RN, although it was developed and implemented a Political-Pedagogical Project in 2005

PLANFOR: política compensatória para a inclusão na informalidade?

Study about the national politics on the professional education, under responsibility of the brazilian Work Department in 1990 years. Purposes to apprehend the results of the actions of the professional education in a basic level, offered by the National Plan of the worker qualification ( PLANFOR ), as well as the effects on the assisted exits, starting from the experience appreciated on the Plan of Qualification developed in the state of Maranhão between 1996 to 2000. It adopts a theoretical-methodological conception by an ontological nature, if being worth of categories as the one of totality and of mediation that together, makes possible the apprehension of a dialectical movement that happens among the analysis object, the professional education politics in a basic level, performed by PLANFOR and your context, the underdevelop and heterogeneous Brazilian capitalism and the consequent job market generalized precarious and informal, making possible that the reality investigated become to understood rationally. This paper uses the indirect documentation technique, instruments of the bibliographical research and documental research. This study is based on those that aren´t part of PLANFOR, qualified by professional education courses in basic level,they didn't get to be inserts at the formal job market, just occupying precarious occupations in the informal job market. Aims to presents and discusses the productive process and your restructuring globally in progress. It focuses at the impacts on the workers, the precariousness of the work that appears like a new phenomenon calls new informality. Talks about the particularity process of productive restructuring assumed in Brazil highlights, showing that the informality, was always a structural phenomenon in the country. Discusses about the professional qualification in the contemporary capitalism, specifying some of your theses. Shows in a historical view the process of appearance of the employment notions and competence, and the influence that it exercised on the reforms of the basic and professional education, as well as the implications of both in the politics of professional education in the country. Rescues the process of creation of PLANFOR, your official formulations and your organized bases, starting from the second half of the 1990 decade. Shows yet the continuos changes in the job market of Maranhão state, for after, starting from the reports expresses at the Plans of Qualification from the state, elaborated by the Group of Evaluation and Studies of the Poverty and the Politics addressed to the poverty from the Master degree Program in Public Politics, from the Federal University of Maranhão, analyzing the acting of PLANFOR in the State, your probable deficiencies, as results the changes verified in the conditions of occupation and the gains of the exits from the professional education courses in basic level

Tornar-se professor formador pela experiência formadora: vivências e escritas de si

This thesis describes and analyzes the trajectory of education of an educator-teacher group to become tutor of memorials (final work of the course Normal Superior in Instituto de Educação superior President Kennedy IFESP-Natal-RN). The writing of memorials (self-biographical writing) propitiates to the pupil that writes a reflection on his/her student and professional life, and to whom guides an evolution in his/her professional education. From the methodological point of view, we adopt an etnomethodological perspective of qualitative approach which describes the reality of real citizens inserted in a real situation of education. It is constituted of participants of the research of 32 educator-teachers, deriving of three different areas of academic formation. The instruments of data collection consist of eight life histories, 32 contextualization applications of the participants of the research, interviews with two consultants of the project, as well as some documents. The results of the analyses put in evidence that the education of the educator-teacher goes for two parallel ways: the first deals with the experiences, interactions and elements of daily practice; the second with the academy experiences where the educator-teacher searches the post-graduation courses. The integration of these two ways defines the educator-teacher identity with foundation in knowings that constitute in the exercise of guidance of memorials. The teachers knowings are considered insufficient by the majority and others knowings are mobilized to the knowing to be educator-teacher, memorial tutor. The thesis concludes that the trajectory of the educator-teacher constitutes an educator experience, in the direction of that implies an articulation among the learnings, abilities and knowings, to support the pupil in self-discovery, and that these multiple experiences favor the education of these teachers

O PROEJA ensino médio no ifrn, campus Caicó: causas da desistência e motivos da permanência

This dissertation deals about the theme of National Integration Program of the Professional Education to the Basic Education in the form of Youth and Adults Education - PROEJA, which was developed at the Federal Institute of Education Science and Technology of Rio Grande do Norte - IFRN - Campus Caicó. It aims to analyze the causes of the abandonment and the reasons for the permanence of students within the mentioned program. To substantiate this research, we used methodologically, some procedures such as bibliographical research, documentary analysis, semi-structured interviews and focus group. To analyze the data, we discussed the contradiction that involves duality and educational compensation based in the struggles and achievements of rights at the core of public policies for high schools, for vocational education and the education of youth and adults in the 2000s. We analyze the integrated high school under PROEJA, having as reference the conception of the total human formation; the inseparability of the primary education system and vocational education and the integration of knowledge and expertise as a whole, discussing the specificities of the modality EJA, discussing the causes of abandonment and the reasons for the permanence of the students of education for youth and adults (EJA) in the primary education system. As for the results, we found that although the PROEJA be a program that aims to provide a complete human formation to contribute to the full citizenship of their graduate members, what is announced in the document that guides its creation has not been materialized in Caicó Campus. The curriculum of the course was not designed for the students of EJA, nor teachers have had an adequate training to work with these specific individuals, and its specificities of being workers with differentiated learning times have not been considered. In addition, the courses are predominantly of instrumentalist characteristics. This indicates that the material and institutional conditions to achieve the promised total and complete training have not being fully materialized at the researched school. Associated with the difficulties concerning the intra-school and extra-school conditions, personal and socioeconomic conditions which are related to the obligation to work that implies in limitations to balance work, school and family, they influenced in the interruption of the school trajectory of these subjects. Through research, we confirmed that the motives of students who remain have to do also with intraescolares conditions the quality of education (qualification of technical staff and teachers) involved in the educational process, as well as socioeconomic and personal issues represented by the support of colleagues and family.Then it is concluded that the causes of abandonment and the reasons of the permanence are of institutional, socioeconomic and personal origins. Finally, it is observed that capitalist society demands as much as possible high levels of educated workers, and at the same time makes difficult the access to that education for much of the population, and it is not randomly. The objects of that exclusion are the popular worker classes and their children

Revelações e contradições entre concepção e gestão do currículo em um curso técnico no IFRN, na modalidade de educação de jovens e adultos

This dissertation reports the results of a research which has aimed to analyze the senses attributed to the curriculum by the students of the Technical Course of Computation Maintenance and Support, organized through the Programme of Integration of the the Professional Education with the Basic Education in the Youngster and Adult Education Modality (PROEJA), at Instituto Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (IFRN), Campus Santa Cruz. It has been sought to know who the students are and to investigate their curriculum conceptions, on which the this investigation has been based on. Thus, those senses attributed by the students on their narratives have been compared to the official proposed curriculum for the Programme and to the curriculum implemented by IFRN. The current research follows the qualitative approach being led by a study case and life stories methods. In order to effective that approach, two data collecting instruments have been developed: questionnaires and semi structured interviews. The collected data has been complemented by the legal and institutional documents analysis. This study is derived from the presupposition that PROEJA s students, although are able to access school after the educational system restructuration, are still facing difficulties during their courses because of the excluding and traditional curriculum, decontextualized with their personal and work life, that is, without curriculum integration. This study has accomplished PROEJA s students characterization presenting important data for the integrated curriculum construction at IFRN and revealing that the students consider the Programme as inclusive. Nevertheless, the practices concerned to the democratic construction of the curriculum and its dialogical action indicate partial inclusion, considering that, in order to include those students indeed, it would be necessary to include them to the institutional and academic context. Contradictory situations have been detected on the course pedagogical project, considered traditional and decontextualized, especially regarding to methodological aspects. The research also allowed to increase PROEJA s investigation field as well as to contribute with a better implementation of the Programme as curricular proposal bonded to Basic and Professional Education in the Youngster and Adult Modality Education Modality

Saúde da família: uma estratégia de mudança no processo de produção dos serviços de saúde

The purpose of this study is to analyze, from the point of view of nurses, changes that took place in the process of providing health services after the introduction of the Family Health Program (FHP). It is na investigation of qualitative nature that uses semi-structured interviews as a main empirical approach tool. Six nurses from the city of Caicó, Rio Grande do Norte, who were working with basic care before the introduction of the FHP, within basic care, were: adscription and ties with the community; hospitality and the humanizacion of care-giving; decrease in cases of inpatient treatment; strengthening of the prevention of injuries and health promotion; improvemente of health indicatiors, finally, actions that point towads meeting the principles of wholeness, equity and universality as a declaration of the Brazilian National Health Care System (SUS). Nevertheless, in spite of all recognizable positive aspects, the FHP has some weaknesses, such as: the difficulty posed by colletive work; the mismatch between professional education and the demands of the current health standard; a poor physical infrastructure of the Basic Health Units; a high heath staff turnover and precarious work conditions. In addition to this, some strategies that can be used to help improve the process of providing health services have been pointed out, such as, coordination between sectors, continuous education, making work conditions less precarious and improving the means whereby heathy service management is conveyed,Tthus, finally, we understand that the FHP does bring forward meaningful changes to the process of provinding health services to strengthen the Brasilian National Health Care System (SUS), in spite of the fact that it lies within a scenario of adversities that can be overcome through the collective endeavor of the several social actors

Corações e mentes desvendam o Sistema Único de Saúde : visões e vivências de estudantes de enfermagem

One of the Ministry of Health s attempts at contributing to making collective health more appealing to health students is the Experience and In-Service Training within the Reality of the Unified Health Service Project (VER-SUS). Hence, the object of this investigation is to survey learners views on the teaching of nursing based in the experiences they have lived through in the VER-SUS. Its purpose is to analyze the views and lived-through experiences of nursing students on how the VER-SUS contributed to their professional education. This is a study of the descriptiveexploratory type with a qualitative approach. Eighteen undergraduate students from the nursing program at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), former VER-SUS participants, took part in this study, from 2006 to 2009. Information was collected using focus group techniques guided by a set of questions and semistructured interview with open and closed questions. The information collected was analyzed using content analysis technique, of the thematic analysis type. The UFRN Research Ethics Committee approved of the survey pursuant to Report Opinion number 223/2010 and CAAE number 0105.0.051.000-10. Lived-through experiences and in-service training gathered from the VER-SUS have contributed meaningfully to health education, as they helped understand the role of the university and of a health and nursing education within the hegemonic model of education. According to the views and lived-through experiences of nursing students who took part in the SUS project it was extremely relevant to use active methodologies in the teaching-learning process and have the facilitators act as liaisons for the SUS. It follows from this study that the VER-SUS does contribute to a health-nursing education and brings the students close to the reality of the community

Atuação da escola frente à violência: estudo comparativo entre duas instituiçoes de ensino

It is a descriptive, exploratory study, quantitative comparative approach, whose general objective was to analyze the violence at school in a comparative way in the context of two schools in Natal / RN. The specifics were to identify the types of manifestations of violence in the contexts of public and private schools, to identify the position of the leadership, teachers and school staff during and after the occurrence of manifestations of violence in the school environment, to identify measures to prevent violence within of schools. The results show that 68 of the 121 participants (56.20%) were female and 53 (43.80%) were male, 38 (31.40%) were between 40 and 49, 85 (70.2%) lived in the south of Natal (RN), 46 (38.02%) specialization, 68 (56.20%) were Catholic, 63 (52.07%) married, 41 (33.88%) received between 03 and 05 and 68 minimum wages (56.20%) were teachers, 51 (42.15%) 02 employees (01,65%) and directors, 46 (38.02%) providers had between 05 and 14 years and 11 months experience in teaching 70 (57.85%) less than five years in the job, 68 (56.20%) worked between 20 hours and 40 hours per week, 81 (16.30%) worked in the 9th grade of elementary school II. As for the sizing of violence, 111 (91.74%) respondents witnessed episodes of this event who work in the institution, 100 (82.64%) witnessed verbal violence, 87 (71.90%) called for parents when some event happenedviolent that it caused injury to students, 66 (54.55%) believed that family violence is the main reason for young people practiced bullying, 44 (38.98%) reported daily episodes of bullying, 64 (52.89% ) the event happens in the courtyard. Of the 37 victims of violence at school, 22 (59.45%) suffered verbal abuse, 18 (48.65%) experienced violence once a week, 36 (97.30%) were attacked by students, 104 (85.95 %) are able to differentiate the bad acts of bullying behavior, 28 (23.14%) separated the involved coordination and communicated verbally, 23 (19.00%) stated that the coordination of schools talked with parents about the aggressive behavior of the student. Regarding the actions taken to minimize bullying, 69 (57.02%) participated in any professional education process, 47 (38.84%) was the educational process at another institution, 49 (71.01%) took courses lasting 12 to 24 hours, 59 (48.76%) stated that interaction with parents and family was the most stimulated by the school to try to minimize and prevent the event and 116 (95.87%) participated in meetings at the institutions surveyed , 58 (50.00%) responded that the meetings took place every two months and 121 (100.00%) reported having no refresher course on school violence in the schools surveyed. We conclude that violence in schools has been expressed in any social class and that professionals are poorly prepared to deal with the situation. So we hope that education professionals through the reading of our study may realize that school violence takes place in any institution affecting the lives of all who make up the educational universe. It is extremely important that these professionals always seek to empower through knowledge so that they can develop strategies to prevent and minimize the bullying to change the reality of the workplace

O cidadão técnico em enfermagem :analisando as mudanças na sua profissionalização

The study analyzes the changes occurring in the professional qualification of the Nursing Technician in the Natal School of Nursing. It provides a historical discussion of Brazilian professional education, of the pertinent legislation in this type of teaching, and the repercussions related to the institutionalization of the Educational Directives Law. It interprets the discourse of the graduates of the complementary course of nursing auxiliary to nursing technician, for the year 2002, using the collective subject analysis and individual interviews. These revealed changes in the areas of knowledge-learning, knowledge-doing, knowledge-being, and an awakening to other changes besides the challenges being confronted. In this sense, nursing as a participant in a society that is effervescent with process changes, interacts socially, politically and professionally in this context, able to experience advances and retrogrades, depending on its political competency