Para onde caminha a ciência politica?

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the challenges to Political Sciences at the moment when many authors emphasize the usage of democratic paradigm as the only way to the rational building of speech in pluralist societies. At the end of one century of the consolidation of modern liberal thought, both in right and left versions (Wallerstein, 1995), the democracy as research tradition(Ball, 1987) fades away its ethical meaning, based upon equality and freedom, and lacks room for discussions about rules for implementing it. The analytical method seeks to historically rebuild the different levels of modern state-nation upbringing and the consolidation of competitive party democracy in the 20th century, which is the explanation key for the political organizational phenomenon of globalized societies. The result of this analysis opens new perspectives to Political Sciences advance in discussing the nature of democratic paradigm since it needs to face challenges to survive, such as: the fight against the structural violence of our society; the fight against despotism; and the adjustment to the meaning of the word freedom. The facing of the mentioned challenges may open explanation keys that will lead to a change in Political Sciences ways.

Ensuring quality in qualitative inquiry: Using key concepts as guidelines

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

As torcidas de futebol como organizações diversificadas: um estudo de caso sobre a torcida organizada Gaviões da Fiel

Although they are two distinct fields of social practices, football and carnival are components of national identity. According the academic research tradition, these two phenomenons are studied separately. However, by characteristics of the city of Sao Paulo, these two social practices are performed by the same social actors: the fans of teams in the city, and join organizations of supporters - the cheerleaders - created from these same institutions, schools samba and now also compete in the Carnival of Sao Paulo, as is the case of Torcida Organizada Gaviões da Fiel, used as an object of study for this work. The approach of these cultural events helped define the question that guided the research: the associations of football fans, when observed by an administrative perspective, can be characterized as diverse organizations? From this question, one tries to describe the way a fan club is organized through the division of tasks that takes, as well as explain the type of organizational structure appropriate to accomplish the two goals it is intended for: cheer for the favorite team and be a part of the carnival parade