The public choice sedition: variations on the theme of scientific warfare

Given a significant element of truth in "Public Choice", a modest element must be found when a similar approach is made to the behavior of economic scientists. Harry Johnson found this in "The Keynesian Revolution and the Monetarist Counter-Revolution". Following him, I find more in the Public Choice "Revolution" itself. The basic visions, assumptions and methods of the latter are appraised within its time-space stream. "Variations on a theme by Buchanan" or "The B- and F-Twist" could have been suggestive subtitles for this paper -- an embrycnic Economics of Knowledge, a complement to the Sociology of Knowledge.

After balance of powers diplomacy, globalization´s politics

The September 11th episode not only marked the end of the Cold War, but of the Balance of Powers Diplomacy, through which the nation-states defin e themselves as enemies, and solve their problems with war or war threat. Today the major countries do not have enemies among other nation-states. Slowly Globalization’s Politics replace the previous system, as long as globalization gets regulated, and the rule of law emerges at international level. In the global world we have three types of countries: the rich, the ones of intermediary development, and the poor. Globalization is inherently unjust to the latter. Unable to compete in a world where competition prevails everywhere, such countries are either just outside the system, or, frustrated, recur to terrorism. Interests, however, do not point out only in the direction of inequalities. Through politics, i.e., through debate and argument, it will be possible to create a less unjust international law system. And also though it, the hope in an international government ceases to be a mere utopia.

Law and narrative: a life history interview with a Brazilian jurist

This article discusses some issues in communicating experience, based on a life history interview with 83-year-old Brazilian jurist Evandro Lins e Silva conducted by the Getúlio Vargas Foundation’s oral history program (Centro de Pesquisa e Documentação de História Contemporânea do Brasil, or CPDOC) between August 1994 and January 1995.1The text focuses especially on two images used by the interviewee, which consolidate both the experiences that have been communicated to him and the experience that he himself endeavors to communicate regarding his activities as an attorney and the status of truth within the field of law.

A atitude frente a impunidade do menor infrator: um estudo comparativo

Este trabalho teve por objetivo um estudo comparativo da atitude frente à impunidade penal do menor infrator face a crescente criminal idade juvenil e à perspectiva de redução da idade referente a esta prerrogativa penal, com a justificativa de aumentar a responsabilidade social dos jovens. O trabalho abrange duas partes: Na primeira, é analisado o fenômeno da criminalidade, com relação na ilicitude dos jovens, procurando situar seus condicionantes sócio-econômico-culturais e reportando-se, ainda, a estudos empíricos sobre o tema. Paralelamente, e levado a efeito um estudo de atitudes, embasado no referencial teórico da Sociologia do conhecimento do Peter Berger e Thomas Luckmann. Serviram como respondentes da escala 120 sujeitos, divididos segundo os atributos de sexo, idade, nível de escolaridade e profissão. As seis categorias profissionais compunham dois amplos grupos: humanistas e não humanistas. O instrumento, escala de atitude tipo Likeri, foi construído e aplicado pela pesquisadora, obedecendo a etapas definidas e tratamentos estatísticos, tendo a forma experimental definitiva contado com 18 proposições. A análise de itens e fidedignidade da escala comprovaram a eficácia do instrumento. As hipóteses estatísticas levantadas foram testadas através da análise da variância (no grupo como um todo) e o teste do qui-quadrado (com os sujeitos já agrupados em humanistas e não humanistas), ambos com nível de significância fixado em 0,05. Os resultados da análise da variância demonstraram não haver diferenças significativas na atitude, quanto a sexo, idade e nível de escolaridade. Relação significativa foi encontra da entre profissão e a atitude pesquisada. Pelo teste do qui-quadrado evidenciaram-se diferenças significativas entre humanistas e não humanistas somente em relação ao atributo nível de escolaridade

What kind of judiciary do we want?: the access to justice in Brazil

The goal of this paper is to discuss a key issue in the Democratic Rule of Law State: what are the role and main functions of the Judiciary in Brazil? Is the Judiciary mainly a public service provider, adjudicating disputes and guaranteeing individual rights? Or also as a state power, it should mainly control and guide the moral values of the society, changing the status quo and reducing social conflicts? In this sense, what are the conflicts that must be examined by the Judiciary? We will seek to answer these questions based on a discussion subsidized by courts official statistics and the results of surveys conducted with the Brazilian general population. The surveys measured how do citizens feel about their judicial system and what are the circumstances and the facts that determine the judicialization of conflicts. We work with the perceptions and attitudes of citizens relating to the Judiciary as it is today and discuss the Judiciary they want. Then, we compare how attitudes and perceptions relate to actual behavior and use of courts.

Disputing the application of laws: the constitutionality of the Brazilian Statute against domestic violence in the courts

This study aimed to map the key positions regarding the constitutionality of the Maria da Penha Law (Law 11.340/2006) in the Brazilian judicial system. The law, the result of political struggles by the Brazilian feminist movement, has been the subject of discussions in the public sphere and actions aimed at consolidating its constitutionality before the Federal Supreme Court. We examined and discussed the arguments used in the Courts, intending to show that the creation of law is not limited to the legislative moment, but rather that its social meaning is also constituted through disputes within the Judiciary.

Global law in pieces fragmentation, regimes and pluralism

The idea that life undergoes a process of functional differentiation, and that, as a consequence, law becomes increasingly specialized – and maybe even transforms in its very nature – is now widespread. The specialized clusters of law or regulation are very often called regimes, in the international arena, international or transnational regimes. This paper deals, first, with three strong representations of international regimes and discusses some of their problems. It argues that, in order to make a good use of the category, it is necessary to keep in mind the differentiation between law and non-law in the wider context of governance. It then turns, firstly, to the notion of regimes as fragments of a unified and coherent public international law order and, secondly, as meeting points of regulations emerging from different legal orders as well as from other non-legal sources. Within public international law, regimes are seen as related to what is called the double fragmentation of that legal order. As clusters of regulation within a wider global regulatory order, regimes are put in relation to two types of legal or regulatory pluralism.

Important, unimportant a critical anticipation of the assumptions of legal positivism in Alice in Wonderland

Almost a full century separates Lewis’ Alice in Wonderland (1865) and the second, lengthier and more elaborate edition of Hans Kelsen’s Pure Theory of Law (1960; first edition published in 1934). And yet, it is possible to argue that the former anticipates and critically addresses many of the philosophical assumptions that underlie and are elemental to the argument of the latter. Both texts, with the illuminating differences that arise from their disparate genre, have as one of their key themes norms and their functioning. Wonderland, as Alice soon finds out, is a world beset by rules of all kinds: from the etiquette rituals of the mad tea-party to the changing setting for the cricket game to the procedural insanity of the trial with which the novel ends. Pure Theory of Law, as Kelsen emphatically stresses, has the grundnorm as the cornerstone upon which the whole theoretical edifice rests2. This paper discusses some of the assumptions underlying Kelsen’s argument as an instance of the modern worldview which Lewis satirically scrutinizes. The first section (Sleepy and stupid) discusses Lewis critique of the idea that, to correctly apprehend an object (in the case of Kelsen’s study, law), one has to free it from its alien elements. The second section (Do bats eat cats?) discusses the notion of systemic coherence and its impact on modern ways of thinking about truth, law and society. The third section (Off with their heads!) explores the connections between readings of systems as neutral entities and the perpetuation of political power. The fourth and final section (Important, Unimportant) explains the sense in which a “critical anticipation” is both possible and useful to discuss the philosophical assumptions structuring some positivist arguments. It also discusses the reasons for choosing to focus on Kelsen’s work, rather than on that of Lewis’ contemporary, John Austin, whose The Province of Jurisprudence Determined (published in 1832) remains influential in legal debates today.

Prevention of Risky drinking among students at a Brazilian University

Aim: The aim of this paper was to compare the quantity and frequency of alcohol use and its associated negative consequences between two groups of college students who were identified as being risky drinkers. Subjects were randomly allocated in a clinical trial to intervention or control groups. Methods: Risky drinking use was defined as Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) >= 8 and/or Rutgers Alcohol Problem Index (RAPI) >= 5 problems in the previous year. Students who had undergone the Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students (BASICS) (N = 145 at baseline; 142 at 12 months, and 103 at 24 months, loss of 29.7%) were compared with a control group (N = 121 at baseline; 121 at 12 months and 113 at 24 months, loss of 9.3%), the nonintervention group. Variables included drinking frequency, quantity and peak consumption, dependence assessment, and family and friends' abuse assessment. Results: Treated students at a 24-month follow-up decreased quantity of alcohol use per occasion and lowered AUDIT and RAPI scores. Conclusions: This is the first brief intervention work on risky drinking with college students in Brazil and the results are encouraging. However, it is difficult to conduct individual prevention strategies in a country where culture fosters heavy drinking through poor public policy on alcohol and lack of law enforcement.

A note on carcass characteristics of rabbits fed on a restricted system

Thirty four 65 days old New Zealand White female rabbits. weighting 1900 +/- 40 g, were separated in 3 groups and caged individually. One group was slaughtered when 70 days old (reference group, n=14). The second group was slaughtered 50 days later after ad libitum feeding (n = 6), and the third group was slaughtered also when 120 days old, but after restricted feeding since 70 days old i.e. 50% of the spontaneous feed intake of the 65-70 days period (restricted group n=14). Whole carcass weight and carcass cuts weights were measured after 24 hours storage at +4 degrees C. For each of the 3 groups in the previous order, slaughter live weight was 1992 - 2988 and 1887g; Chilled carcass percentage were 47.9 - 51.0 and 50.1. Feed restriction decreased the loin proportion of the carcass lower than that of the reference group (27.0 - 26.1 and 22.8% for the 3 groups in the same order) but increased the posterior limbs proportion (36.5 - 36.6 and 40.1).

Justiça penal autoritária e consolidação do estado punitivo no Brasil

The Brazilian democratic transition, still underway today, has run up against enormous difficulty in incorporating penal action. Or, put in yet stronger terms, we could say that the boundaries of democratization processes, delineated through the action of that sector of the State, reveal the possibility that the juridical field remains immune to democratizing change. Although prevailing discourse among law professionals asserts that Penal Justice is undergoing democratization, what we have observed in practice is a strong resistance within the juridical field to assuming political responsibilities within the consolidation of democracy. This article reports analyses and conclusions formulated through observation of the Brazilian penal justice system that gave origin to the thesis entitled Penal Justice in Brazil today: democratic discourse, authoritarian practice. The research sought to reflect on contemporary criminal justice policy, which has been guided by the widening of repression and the continued use of incarceration. Such policy, carried out in Brazil since the beginning of the 1985 political opening has adjusted itself to the liberal project that is also currently underway in the country, as well as in almost the entire Western capitalist world. As we can observe, Penal Justice, even during the execution of sentences, operates in authoritarian and exclusive ways, suppressing the rights guaranteed by law to those who have been sentenced and adopting extremely repressive forms as demonstrated by the extremely sparse benefits that it concedes. Thus, in Brazil, criminality has generally been responded through severe sentences, reflected in the absence of guarantees of constitutional rights and ample recourse to incarceration. In this vein, our contemporary democratic governments have frequently adopted a punitive stance that seeks to reaffirm the State's aptitudes for punishing and controlling criminality. © 2009 Revista de Sociologia e Política.

Latin America through the lens of social cohesion: selected indicators

Spanish document available at the Library

National mechanism for gender equality and empowerment of women in Latin America and the Caribbean

Incluye Bibliografía

A re-introdução da sociologia nas escolas públicas: caminhos e ciladas para o trabalho docente

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)