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Argues that the executive competence of the European Commission should be expanded, the legislative powers of the European Parliament reinforced, and a senate of the states created to assure the constitutional future of the European Union. Summary in English p. 231.

The article analyses the process of reform in four areas of social policies that affect directly the interests of sub-national governments: basic education, social housing programs, basic sanitation and health. As the study reveals, despite the varying degree of success achieved in the various policy initiatives and contrary to the expectations of the prevailing interpretations of the nature of Brazilian federalism, the federal government faced no insurmountable hurdles in implementing their reform agenda. The study aims at demonstrating that (i) in the absence of any constitutional mandatory requirement, the political autonomy of local governments - typical of federative States - actually enhances the veto power of local governments over policy initiatives proposed by the federal Executive branch. However, (ii) power resources available to the federal Executive branch - such as agenda definition and vetoing powers - in addition to control over resources that are essential to the political survival of the representatives increase the chances of success-of the federal government. Furthermore, (1999), (iii) the constitutional authority of Brazilian states is far more limited than that of the North-American states; (iv) the category federalism, however, is not sufficient to define the potential stability of specific policies, which depends upon how inter-governmental relations are structured in each particular policy. Specifically, (v) constitutional rules, legacies from previous policies and the political cycle frame the decision arenas in various ways, thus conditioning both the strategies and chances of success of the federative players.

The purpose of the article is to provide a theoretical basis for the application of judicial proceedings (judicializacao) in the foreign policy. The starting point is the classical conceptions of Locke & Montesquieu which conferred a great deal of discretion to the Executive for managing foreign relations, what was gradually counterbalanced by the Legislative & the Judiciary. Approaching the Brazilian literature on the expansion of judicial power to the politics & subsequent misrepresentations, the author tries to apply the concept to the foreign policy & analyses five cases of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. References. Adapted from the source document.

This article indicates, through the case study of the Banespa federalization process, that there should be serious reservations concerning the current idea that there was centralization of power in the central government enforced by the federal executive in the 1990s. The Banespa example is a critical case study as it demonstrates that the restructuring of the state banking system is not caused by the federal government in the name of the maintenance of the economic stabilization process. The authors argue that the agreement involving the situation of state banks was the fruit of a political bargaining between the state government and the federal government. (Rev Econ Polit/DÜI)