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Favela. Four Decades of Living on the Edge in Rio de Janeiro, by Janice Perlman. Oxford University Press, 2010.Hard Times in the Marvelous City. From Dictatorship to Democracy in the Favelas of Rio de Janeiro, by Bryan McCann. Duke University Press, 2014.Todo Dia É Segunda Feira, by José Mariano Beltrame (with Sérgio Garcia and Eliane Azevedo). Sextante, 2014.Unidades de Polícia Pacificadora: Debate e Reflexões, edited by André Rodrigues, Raíza Siqueira, and Mauricio Lissovski. ISER – Comunicações do ISER 31(67) (December), 2012.

Over the past decade Brazil seems to have reinvented itself as a newly emerging power in the Global South and indeed the world. Not only has fairly sustained economic growth after the 'samba crisis' of the late 1990s boosted the country's position as a new 'middle power' (Armijo and Burges 2010), it has also been a major factor behind a much acclaimed process of poverty reduction and, indeed, the slow but certain decrease of income inequality. Governing politicians from the coalition led by the leftist Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT, Workers' Party) have claimed that since 2003 an additional 40 million Brazilians have been lifted out of poverty to enter the (lower) middle class. Brazil's high profile participation in BRICS, its newfound role as leader of South America, and the hosting of the 2014 Football World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics (in the city of Rio de Janeiro) should be the icing on the cake of this apparent story of success. The fact that during the football tournament itself protests largely subsided and criminal violence did not affect the daily routines does not mean that 'emergent Brazil' is not facing challenges. One of these challenges is without doubt the problem of violence and insecurity in urban areas. This phenomenon has become so deeply engrained in Brazilian society that many consider it intractable and have accepted it as part of everyday life (Caldeira, 2000). The peculiarity of this pattern of violence and insecurity is that it is segmented in its phenomenology and impact, in the sense that it is predominantly faced by residents of poorer urban areas, including the iconic yet infamous favelas. As such, violence and insecurity reflect a broader syndrome of what can be labelled 'disjunctive' or 'unequal' citizenship: citizenship is open to all Brazilians, but citizenship rights and entitlements are unequally enjoyed, depending on specific positions of class, place, ethnicity, and social connections (Holston, 2008). The four books discussed in this review look at the causes and ...

Favela. Four Decades of Living on the Edge in Rio de Janeiro, by Janice Perlman. Oxford University Press, 2010.Hard Times in the Marvelous City. From Dictatorship to Democracy in the Favelas of Rio de Janeiro, by Bryan McCann. Duke University Press, 2014.Todo Dia É Segunda Feira, by José Mariano Beltrame (with Sérgio Garcia and Eliane Azevedo). Sextante, 2014.Unidades de Polícia Pacificadora: Debate e Reflexões, edited by André Rodrigues, Raíza Siqueira, and Mauricio Lissovski. ISER – Comunicações do ISER 31(67) (December), 2012.

In Latin America, and particularly Brazil, inequality and social exclusion continue to plague the quality of democracy despite two decades of transition and consolidation. Still, in Brazil, the Workers' Party has been remarkably successful over the past decade, explicitly addressing the problem of social exclusion and 'incomplete citizenship'. This paper provides an analysis of the case of Porto Alegre covering the four Workers' Party municipal administrations from 1989 to the present in order to assess the significance of social incorporation and citizenship for the quality of democracy in Brazil. The paper discusses some conceptual notions that are relevant for the question of democracy in Brazil, particularly the role of citizenship and civil society in 'deepening' democracy. Then the paper goes into the evolution and dynamics of Porto Alegre's system of 'participatory budgeting'. The paper's assessment of this experience with respect to its performance, depth and robustness shows that 'participatory budgeting' has had positive effects with respect to the provision of public goods services, the quality of governance, and citizens' participation in what is seen as a new 'public space' shared by the local state and grass roots organisations. The paper concludes by relating the case experience to the question of citizenship, civil society and democracy and by reflecting upon its wider implications for the current and future quality of democracy in Brazil.

This article discusses the role of civil society in three recent and quite different cases of regime transition-cum-peace and reconstruction: El Salvador, Guatemala, and Peru. Open or 'low intensity' civil war characterized these three countries civil war in the 1980s and early 1990s, accompanied by severe socioeconomic problems and a difficult regime transition agenda. This poses a particular challenge to the role of civil society. Traditionally weakly articulated in these countries and battered by authoritarianism and violence, grassroots organizations, horizontal associations, and NGOs nevertheless took on an important role in the peace process in El Salvador, and especially in Guatemala. Peru, in contrast, witnessed the erosion and eventual breakdown of civil society as a result of the civil war and the related economic, social and political crises. As it turns out, the abandonment of a military and repressive logic within the state and state-related political actors is a first condition for a successful peace process and an active role of civil society. However, if the protagonists of the conflict manage to monopolize the peace process, the role of civil society in influencing the peace process and its implementation will be severely constrained. This may in turn lead to a less-than-optimal outcome and to ongoing political confrontations about the agenda of reconstruction and democratization.Este artículo analiza el papel de la sociedad civil en tres casos recientes de transición política cum reconstrucción post-conflicto: El Salvador, Guatemala y Perú. Estos tres países experimentaron durante los 1980s y los primeros años de los 90 un conflicto civil abierto de 'baja intensidad'. Dichos conflictos fueron acompañados de graves problemas socio-económicos y de una compleja agenda de transición política. Este escenario influyó profundamente el papel a jugar por la sociedad civil. Organizaciones de base, ONGs y otros entes cívicos se fortalecieron visiblemente durante los años de violencia y represión. De esta manera, lograron asumir un papel importante en los procesos de paz, especialmente en El Salvador y Guatemala. En Perú, en cambio, se produjó una erosion y luego el colapso de la sociedad civil como resultado de la guerra civil y de una crisis social, económica y política generalizada. El artículo concluye que la superación de la lógica militarista y represiva representa una primera condición para el logro de un proceso de paz exitoso y la activación de la sociedad civil. Sin embargo, cuando los protagonistas del conflicto logran monopolizar al proceso, la influencia de la sociedad civil resulta seriamente restringida y lleva a resultados menos favorables y a confrontaciones permanentes respecto al contenido de la agenda de reconstrucción y de democratización.

This volume offers a comparative analysis of the role of the military in Latin America in domestic politics and governance after 2000. Divided into four parts covering the entirety of Latin America, the book argues that the Latin American military as semi-autonomous political actors have not faded away since 2000 and may even have been making a comeback in various countries. Each part outlines scenarios which effectively frame the various pathways taken to post-military democratic society. Part 1 critically examines textbook cases of political demilitarization in the Southern Cone, Peru, and Costa Rica. Part 2 contrasts the role of the military in the post-2000 politics of two regional powers: Brazil and Mexico. Part 3 examines the political role of the military facing violent pluralism' in Colombia and the Northern triangle of Central America. Finally, Part 4 identifies country cases in which the military have been instrumental in the rise, sustenance, and occasional demise of left wing revolutionary projects within Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Bolivia. Latin American Military and Politics in theTwenty-First Century will be of interest to scholars, students and professionals in the fields of Latin American history, international relations, military studies and studies concerning democracy, political violence and revolution in Latin America elsewhere.

"The twenty-first century is set to be the stage for the massive urbanization of the world's population. Particularly, the so-called 'megacities' around the world are rapidly becoming the scene for deprivation and exclusion, especially in what has come to be called the 'global south'. In such large-scale yet concentrated social environments, a complex set of relationships links poverty and exclusion to urban politics, power relations and public policy. Violent actors look for power in strategies that seek access to urban politics and policy-making. The urban poor are confronted with the challenge of charting pathways in their 'encounters with violence'. Local politicians, administrators, grass roots leaders and NGO officials are faced with the puzzle of how to restore effective non-violent institutions, legitimate governance and citizen security. Featuring case studies from across the globe, Megacities examines recent world-wide trends in poverty and social exclusion, urban violence and politics, and links these to the challenges faced by policy-makers and practitioners."--Publisher description