O Congresso Nacional, as relações civis-militares e a política de defesa no Brasil (1999-2014)

A partir de 2008, o Brasil empreendeu um conjunto de ações na área de defesa nacional sem precedentes desde a redemocratização do país. A publicação da Estratégia Nacional de Defesa foi um marco nesse processo. O documento viabilizou reformas no Ministério da Defesa e a expansão de projetos estratégicos para reaparelhar as Forças Armadas. Pela primeira vez, os investimentos chegaram a superar os gastos com custeio no orçamento destinado à defesa. Além disso, os militares ampliaram os serviços sociais na Amazônia e participaram mais ativamente de ações de segurança pública nas metrópoles brasileiras. O objetivo deste estudo é avaliar como essa nova conjuntura impactou nas atividades parlamentares relacionadas à defesa nacional e aos assuntos militares. Para isso, foi feito um levantamento de todas as proposições de deputados federais e de senadores relacionadas ao tema desde 1999, ano de criação do Ministério da Defesa. Os resultados demonstram que a defesa nacional continua tendo um papel secundário no Congresso Nacional. Apesar da instalação de frentes parlamentares, subcomissões e o uso de outros instrumentos inéditos que conferiram visibilidade ao tema nas casas legislativas, a quantidade de iniciativas diminuiu nos últimos anos. Em contrapartida, instituições de controle, fiscalização e investigação, como o Ministério Público e o TCU, têm sido mais atuantes. No mais, observamos que os deputados mais ativos vêm de estados com maior quantidade de militares em proporção ao número de habitantes. Isso sugere uma conexão eleitoral na atuação nas questões de defesa.

The Limits of political compromise: debt ceilings and political competition

We study the desirability of limits on the public debt and of political competition in an economy where political parties alternate in office. Due to rent-seeking motives, incumbents have an incentive to set public expenditures above the socially optimal level. Parties cannot commit to future policies, but they can forge a political compromise where each party curbs excessive spending when in office if it expects future governments to do the same. In contrast to the received literature, we find that strict limits on government borrowing can exacerbate political-economy distortions by rendering a political compromise unsustainable. This tends to happen when political competition is limited. Conversely, a tight limit on the public debt fosters a compromise that yields the efficient outcome when political competition is vigorous, saving the economy from immiseration. Our analysis thus suggests a legislative tradeoff between restricting political competition and constraining the ability of governments to issue debt.

Coffee house consumer behavior in Changsha, China

Women in Changsha are patronizing coffee-houses, ordering beverages and sweets, and disliking the taste of the expensive product purchased. This thesis is an exploratory research study conducted in Changsha, China with a consumer behavior focus. It uses primary surveys and interviews in addition to secondary sources from books, articles, and academic journals. It seeks to identify underlying motives for purchasing behavior from working women in the developing third-tier city Changsha, Hunan, China. It delves into the psychology of the working women who spend their hard-earned discretionary incomes at costly western chain coffee-houses. The inland mass-market consumer class feels the desire to project their newly established status while needing to save money for their personal future, their children’s schooling, and their parent’s retirement. They must wisely spend discretionary income while satisfying social societal norms. An individual’s self-concept plays and important role in determining which coffee shop she will frequent and what she will order. Daylight Donuts, Starbucks, Costa Coffee and local café’s all serve brewed coffee but they have different associations. This study aims at understanding the influencing factors associated with coffee-house brand equity and how the consumer’s perception of the brand forms her purchasing behavior. All coffee-house brands are relatively new in Changsha, none existing more than seven years. They do not have lasting ties with the community and need to create consumer relationships to ensure sustainability. Changsha women are bold and strong willed. If a corporation is to succeed in the future of Hunan, it will need to create an environment of hospitality excellence, place socially responsible roots in the society, and ask its customers what they want.

Transferências voluntárias na saúde: um estudo de caso do município de São Paulo

A análise do financiamento do Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS) é extremamente complexa. Enquanto grande parte dos estudos desta temática concentra-se na análise das transferências constitucionais e legais (automáticas) da União e Estados para os governos subnacionais, poucos são os trabalhos dedicados à análise das transferências voluntárias (TVs). De certa forma, pode-se dizer que tal tema ou é ignorado pela comunidade epistêmica ou é tratado de forma apenas marginal nos estudos acadêmicos. Com o intuito de complementar essa parte pouco explorada da literatura da saúde, o presente trabalho realiza uma análise exploratória sobre a realização de transferências discricionárias efetivadas entre as diferentes esferas de governo e busca compreender a relevância deste tipo de repasse para o financiamento da saúde. Embasado em conceitos advindos da teoria federalista, o trabalho procura entender se o caso das transferências voluntárias na saúde pode ser considerado como uma expressão do federalismo coercivo. Além da atualização sobre as regras de financiamento do SUS, realizou-se como uma das etapas de análise entrevistas com gestores de saúde, além da análise de dados secundários. Como conclusões, verificou-se que na etapa de análise documental, as TVs podem ser configuradas como instrumentos de centralização de poder decisório (Misoczky, 2003), uma vez que impõem aos municípios os objetivos desenhados por governos superiores e demonstram uma relação coerciva de federalismo (Watts, 2006; Arretche, 2004). No entanto, a análise de dados do município de São Paulo permitiu relativizar esta situação em termos econômicos, dada a baixa representatividade das transferências voluntárias frente aos gastos totais.

Justiça penal negociada: o processo penal pelas partes

O presente trabalho busca analisar a aplicabilidade da Justiça Penal Negociada no ordenamento jurídico brasileiro a partir do papel desempenhado pelas partes no processo penal. Nesse sentido, quanto ao Ministério Público, serão estudadas as funções exercidas pelos seus membros, bem como as principais características institucionais, a fim de se interpretar a natureza da sua atividade na promoção da ação penal pública, especialmente o dilema entre a possibilidade de atuação discricionária ou a sua vinculação à obrigatoriedade. Em relação ao imputado, serão examinadas a possibilidade jurídica de limitação infraconstitucional aos seus direitos fundamentais e de renúncia ao exercício das suas garantias processuais individuais. Por fim, a partir do atual panorama evolutivo dos acordos criminais existentes na nossa legislação, espera-se verificar se de fato há uma tendência de fortalecimento do papel das partes e de desfocalização da figura do juiz, passando para o Ministério Público a tarefa de regulador do processo penal, ao negociar com o imputado as repercussões penais de suas condutas.

O FUNDEB na prática: uma análise jurídica dos desafios para a implementação de políticas públicas no Brasil

Esta dissertação pretende examinar a estrutura jurídica (ponto de partida) do Fundo de Manutenção e Desenvolvimento da Educação Básica e de Valorização dos Profissionais da Educação (FUNDEB), que foi adotada com o intuito de promover a melhoria da educação por meio do financiamento entre entes federativos (ponto de chegada). Para tanto, utilizamos como arcabouço teórico a literatura de Direito e Desenvolvimento, que ressalta a relevância de desenhos jurídicos específicos apresentarem-se como instrumentos para assegurar o cumprimento de direitos fundamentais (SCHAPIRO e TRUBEK, 2012), o trabalho de Bucci sobre políticas públicas (BUCCI, 2006a, 2006b, 2013, 2015) e as discussões de Sen sobre desenvolvimento (SEN, 2000). Para aferir como o FUNDEB foi implementado pelo arcabouço institucional, utilizamos como recorte metodológico a análise dos diplomas normativos relativos a essa política e das decisões proferidas pelo Superior Tribunal de Justiça (STJ) e Supremo Tribunal Federal (STF), afetas ao cálculo e repasse dos recursos de complementação federal, que se destinam aos entes que não possuem condições de atender às determinações da Lei do Fundo. Mais precisamente, selecionamos decisões sobre o prazo para ajustar os valores de complementação federal e acerca da constitucionalidade da Lei do Piso do Magistério, que também exige complementação federal nos termos do FUNDEB. A partir das decisões, constatamos que as interpretações conferidas pelos órgãos judiciais permitiram maior discricionariedade à União para dispor sobre as regras para complementação federal, além de conceder maior prazo para proceder aos ajustes. Concluímos que as questões jurídicas apresentadas nas decisões evidenciam ambiguidades ou lacunas no desenho jurídico da política pública do FUNDEB, o que pode gerar certo grau de imprevisibilidade nas condições para sua implementação prática que podem, por sua vez, frustrar, parcial ou totalmente, os objetivos almejados pela política pública.

Cherry picking with synthetic controls

The synthetic control (SC) method has been recently proposed as an alternative method to estimate treatment e ects in comparative case studies. Abadie et al. [2010] and Abadie et al. [2015] argue that one of the advantages of the SC method is that it imposes a data-driven process to select the comparison units, providing more transparency and less discretionary power to the researcher. However, an important limitation of the SC method is that it does not provide clear guidance on the choice of predictor variables used to estimate the SC weights. We show that such lack of speci c guidances provides signi cant opportunities for the researcher to search for speci cations with statistically signi cant results, undermining one of the main advantages of the method. Considering six alternative speci cations commonly used in SC applications, we calculate in Monte Carlo simulations the probability of nding a statistically signi cant result at 5% in at least one speci cation. We nd that this probability can be as high as 13% (23% for a 10% signi cance test) when there are 12 pre-intervention periods and decay slowly with the number of pre-intervention periods. With 230 pre-intervention periods, this probability is still around 10% (18% for a 10% signi cance test). We show that the speci cation that uses the average pre-treatment outcome values to estimate the weights performed particularly bad in our simulations. However, the speci cation-searching problem remains relevant even when we do not consider this speci cation. We also show that this speci cation-searching problem is relevant in simulations with real datasets looking at placebo interventions in the Current Population Survey (CPS). In order to mitigate this problem, we propose a criterion to select among SC di erent speci cations based on the prediction error of each speci cations in placebo estimations

O princípio constitucional da legalidade administrativa e os limites do controle das atividades-fim das agências reguladoras pelo Tribunal de Contas da União

Analysis of the role of the Union Accounts Court on the control of regulatory agencies, with the objective of identifying the limits of the Institution s acting on the aim activities of the agencies, particularly the control limits of the Court on the merits of discretionary administrative actions, taking into account the autonomy of these entities in the model of regulatory state. Analyzes the principle of administrative legality, the control of public administration, state s action in the economy and facing regulatory agencies, their emergence, evolution and characteristics. Includes the study of jurisprudence and doctrinal differences, as for the limits of the powers conferred by the constitutional legislator to Federal Court of Audit, regarding the control of agencies aim activities, or, in other terms, their regulatory and inspector missions of market, under the principle of administrative legality. Performs analysis, based on case studies involving Court s audits on regulatory agencies. Are appreciated differences within the Institution about the their decisions effects - imposed or not - as regards the arrangements to be adopted by regulatory agencies to correct the flaws and omissions found during Court s inspections, in which content of the act of public agent, despite their technical nature, can happen the criterion of convenience and opportunity

Teoria da despesa pública: uma leitura ético-constitucional em busca do possível da reserva

Brazilian law passes through a crisis of effectiveness commonly attributed to the extravagance of fundamental rights and public shortage. However, public finances are not dogmatically structured to solve the conflicts around the limitations of public spending. There are ethical conditioning factors, like morality, proportionality and impartiality, however, these principles act separately, while the problem of public shortage is holistic. Also, the subjectivity of politics discretionary in the definition of public spending, which is supported in an indeterminate concept of public interest, needs material orientation about the destination of public funds, making it vulnerable to ideological manipulation, resulting in real process of catching rights. Not even the judicial activism (such as influx of constitutionalism) is shown legally appropriate. The Reserve of Possible, also presents basic ethical failure. Understanding the formation of public shortage is therefore essential for understanding the crisis of effectiveness of state responsibilities, given the significant expansion of the state duty of protection, which does not find legal technique of defense of the established interests. The premise of argument, then, part of the possibility of deducting minimal model ethical of desire to spend (public interest) according to objective parameters of the normative system. Public spending has always been treated disdainfully by the Brazilian doctrine, according to the legal character accessory assigned to the monetary cost. Nonetheless, it is the meeting point between economics and law, or is in the marrow of the problem of public shortage. Expensive Subjects to modernity, as the effectiveness of fundamental rights, pass necessarily an ethical legal system of public spending. From the ethical principles deducted from the planning, only the democratic principle guides the public spending through the approval of public spending in the complex budget process. In other words, there is an ethical distancing of economic reality in relation to state responsibilities. From the dogmatic belief of insufficiency, public spending is evaluated ethically, according to the foundations of modern constitutionalism, in search of possible of the financial reserve, certain that the ethics of public economy is a sine qua non condition for legal ethics.

A Competência normativa das agências reguladoras e seus limites principiológicos no direito brasileiro

The transition of the liberal state to welfare state, globalization and the crisis of funding from the government spending on the multiple roles demanded an overhaul of the means of intervention in the economic domain and structure organizational of the Public Administration by enhancing the performance of regulatory functions. Therefore appear in Brazilian law independent regulatory agencies with legal administrative particular that gives autonomy increased, with fixed terms and stability of its leaders, police and competencies, normative and administrative judges. In this scenario, given the autonomy granted by the laws of the creation of regulatory agencies, the legislative competence becomes the most contentious issue, as not infrequently is innovation in the legal system. The main foundations of innovative extension producible by regulatory agencies, which diverges doctrine, are the constitutional attribution of own competence of the Public Administration and the discretionary power. Thus, it is necessary to delimit the constitutional and legal foundations of special legislative powers of these autarchies in our legal system, seeking ways to limit and control the production rules of those entities, for the purpose of position them before the powers constitutionally constituted. We note that with the constitutionalisation of administrative law regulatory agencies found limits to its performance in the normative constitutional principles, especially through the principles of efficiency, morality and proportionality, which has enabled a more effective control of their normative acts

Democracia participativa e regulação econômica: uma questão de legitimidade

This work presents an analysis about the legitimation of independent regulatory commission`s rulemaking power by participation procedure. It is observed that political and administrative decentralization and fragmentation of State, with the purpose of approaching citizens and provide, more efficiently, the functions acquired by the passage of the Welfare State, leads to a deficit of legitimacy (democratic crisis), which is noticeable in the making of legal norms by directors of independent regulatory commission to regulate specific economic sector. However, we understand that this crisis stems from the observation of the contemporary world from dogmas and legal institutions of the eighteenth century, without their evolution and adaptation to the modern world. The legitimacy must be perceived as the justification of power, relation command /obedience, which, from the Modern State, has the democracy as standard. Therefore, just as the world has evolved and demanded political and administrative decentralization to accompany him, it is necessary to the development of the idea of representative democracy (formal legitimacy) to participatory democracy (legitimacy stuff). Legitimacy is not confused with the legality: as the legality is on observance to internal legal system, the "rules of play"; legitimacy, as inputs to be fed into this system, the selection of the different expectations in the environment. Nevertheless, the legitimacy will take place by legality, through introduction of rational and communicative procedures: procedures get fundamental importance because these will be the means to select the expectations to be introduced in the legal system in order to make decisions more fair, rational and qualified towards society. Thus, it is necessary to its opening to the environment for dialogue with the government. In this context, we try to make an analysis of constitutional norms based on systematic and teleological interpretation of these norms to build these arguments. According to the Constitution of 1988, participatory democracy is a result of the democratic principle (sole paragraph of art. 1 of the Constitution), and it is an expression of citizenship and political pluralism, both foundations of Republic (respectively Art. 1st, inc . V and II of the Constitution), as well as the national consciousness. From another point of view, that principle consists of an evolution in the management public affairs (principle of Republic). The right of interested participate in the rulemaking process derives both the principle of popular participation (part of the democratic principle) and the republican principle as the due process constitutional (art. 5, LIV and LV, CF/88) and the right to petition (Art . 5 °, inc. XXXIV, "a", CF/88), and it is the duty of the State not only be open to participation and encourage it. Ignoring stakeholder involvement in procedures and / or expressions compiled can be causes of invalidation of the rule of law produced by addiction of procedure, motive, motivation and/or because of the administrative act. Finally, we conclude that the involvement of stakeholders in the process of making rules within the independent regulatory commission is the legitimacy and the validity of rules; and that, despite of the expressions do not bind the decision making, they will enter the system as juridical fact, balancing the field of technical discretionary of agencies

O direito coletivo prestacional à saúde e o poder judiciário: a concretização do art. 196 da Constituição de 1988 pela via jurisdicional

During the ninth century, owing to the process of industrialization, new social conflicts were showed, forcing the Government not to remain inert. The necessity of answer to these new demands requires from the State some actions that assure the new economic, cultural and social rights, able to exceed the formal equality, according to the principles of redistributive equality and well-being. Among the social rights, the right to health is showed up, which is placed at the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Treaty for the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as a necessary term to promote the dignity and the free development of the human personality. Under the Constitutional Law, it is clear that the implementation of the right to health, placed at the 6th article of the Brazilian Constitution, demands a government activity, which usually requires a provision of material goods, depending on budgetary resources. The Legislative and Executive Branches have a very important role in compliance with the constitutional regulations about the satisfactory offer of health care services, besides the correct use of the resources at this area. The adoption of public policies is the way of Government action to the planning and realization of this right. Though, some public policies are usually made apart from the social compromises, to the detriment of the basic social rights. The government has a discretionary competence to manage the health services. That is the reason it is necessary the control of the political choices, through the popular control, the extrajudicial control by the Account Courts, or the judicial review. Owed to the constitutionalization of social rights, the constitutional justice has a very relevant role, concerning to the constitutional jurisdiction, in a way the Judiciary Branch assume your position as a player that transforms the society. On the control of the public health policies, there is a cast of official instruments, judicial or not, to the guarantee of the collective right to the public health services, and to allow the citizens to reach the real implementation of the right to health

Qualidade do gasto público em educação para os municípios da região metropolitana de Natal-2007

The aim of this thesis is to evaluate the quality of public spending on education for the municipalities of the Metropolitan Region of Natal (RMN) in 2009 by use of two theories: The Theory of Welfare (Welfare State) and the Public Choice Theory (TEP), both important to understand the relationship between education and economics. The study also uses principles of microeconomics and public sector economics to get a better idea of the role of education in economy and society. It describes the development of the educational policy in Brazil from 1988 to the Federal Constitution of 2010, following the major changes in basic education during each government. The characteristics of the RMN municipalities were illustrated with socioeconomic indicators, while educational indicators were used to characterize each municipality regarding education. The model used in this study was developed by Bertê, Brunet and Borges, the data was collected on the back of the School Census 2009 and the Brazil Exam 2009 and it was processed quantitavely in the Information System on Public Budgets in Education (SIOPE) by use of the statistical method called standardized score of the normal cumulative distribution function. The quality of public spending on education is the result of the relation between performance indicator ratio and expense ratio. For the qualitative analysis of results, the criteria of efficiency, efficacy and effectiveness were used. The study found that municipalities with higher expenses showed a worse quality of spending and failed to convert the expenditure incurred into performance, thus confirming ineffectiveness