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AbstractThe interactions between bureaucratic agencies and political actors shape governance outcomes, yet scholars disagree about how bureaucratic autonomy relates to government quality. Some claim that enhancing autonomy improves quality, whereas others maintain the opposite. An influential article by Fukuyama (2013) in Governance suggests a curvilinear relationship, moderated by capacity. This article evaluates the theory empirically, focusing on within‐country variation and two dimensions of autonomy: independence and discretion. Drawing on an original survey of over 3200 public sector workers in Brazil and administrative data on 325,000 public servants, we find evidence suggesting that the relationship between perceived autonomy and quality depends on the type of perceived autonomy and level of capacity. Public servants' perceptions of independence from political actors are associated with increased perceptions about governance quality in a linear fashion. For perceived discretion, we find initial evidence of a Goldilocks relationship: too little reduces perceptions of government quality but so does too much, especially in low‐capacity areas. Our findings offer initial evidence that may qualify claims that limiting bureaucratic discretion while increasing political oversight improves governance; instead, context may be crucial.

Based on cross-sectional data from a national survey of Mexican adolescents aged 14 to 17 years, we analyzed parents' support to their autonomy and their satisfaction. Acknowledging independence and volitional functioning as two dimensions of autonomy, we approached the following questions: whether adolescents were satisfied with the autonomy granted by their parents; whether parents supported both dimensions of autonomy; which variables predict such satisfaction; and whether there were differences according to the sex of the parents and the adolescents. We carried out two ordinal logit regression models and odds ratio for each parent and found that adolescents were satisfied with their parent's support to autonomy, except to being out of home alone; there are strong gender differences in autonomy satisfaction, as girls are 50% less likely to be satisfied; predictors also differ according to the sex of parent, either in their level of contribution or in the area where support is provided. Being out alone and choosing friends were predictors in both parents' models. Choosing dressing-style predicts autonomy satisfaction in the mother's model while choosing romantic partners predicts it in the father's. In the volitional dimension, the variables of what is right or wrong in the mother's model and trust in adolescent's abilities in decision-making in the father's model contributed more to satisfaction. We discuss these findings in terms of the distribution of jurisdictional areas of decision-making between parents and adolescents.

This paper summarizes the findings of a research project conducted on the development of autonomy in foreign language teaching programs in two Olombian universities. ; This paper summarizes the findings of a research project conducted on the development of autonomy in foreign language teaching programs in two Colombian universities. This project can be seen as an outcome of an overall project (COFE Project), supported by the British and Colombian governments in which twenty-six other universities participated. The aim of the COFE project was to improve the quality of pre-service English language teaching programs (Licenciaturas) by qualifying teacher educators and promoting learner autonomy through the donation of resources centers.

Autonomy has two faces, individual autonomy and institutional autonomy. Political systems not only deal with demands for individual freedom, the traditional rights of citizens to freedom of opinion, association and contract. Institutional autonomy is a pervasive property of all kinds of political systems. To international political systems just as to local and regional political systems, autonomy is a basic property. Both types of systems face the difficult task of maintaining stable relations with the nation state, securing an amount of control for the nation state while retaining some autonomy for themselves. The demand of various regions for independence or semiindependence within nation states has been a dominant theme in the politics of the sixties and the seventies. The autonomy of the nation state is its sovereignty. International political systems present a threat to the autonomy of the nation state, while at the same time they may provide mechanisms by means of which other sources of infringements on autonomy may be counteracted. Autonomy is a fundamental political property. A theoretical understanding of autonomy is conducive to the explanation of those aspects of political systems that are related to stability. Such an interpretation may place autonomy in an equilibrium analysis of how demand and supply of autonomy interacts with other basic political properties like influence and control.

This article analyzes the concept of hegemony and examines its relationship to power and autonomy. Refuting the conventional belief that it is ideology that distinguishes hegemony, the article argues that it is autonomy that constitutes the distinguishing characteristic. Although hegemons tend to evolve into imperialists, hegemony involves leadership of an alliance, not domination by coercion. It is impossible to conceptualize hegemony without also including autonomy. In this conceptualization, the primary source of autonomy lies in a specific hegemonic system of domination that itself embodies the notion of autonomy for both the polity and its citizenry, a limiting construction that hinders the tendency toward imperialism. Such a system includes one type of autonomy that can be designated as autonomy within hegemony. In addition, the article discusses two other types of autonomy: counterhegemony and a largely power-based opposed hegemony. Thus, the article concludes, hegemony is a complex concept, with several types of manifestation, that can more usefully be understood in connection with autonomy and power than as a stand-alone concept.