Limits of Democracy
Limits of Democracy

Author: Marcos Nobre

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2022-10-13

Total Pages: 182

ISBN-13: 3031163923

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In this timely book, Brazilian political philosopher Marcos Nobre analyzes the social and political roots of the election of Jair Bolsonaro to the presidency of Brazil and shows how this process is connected to the rise of new far-right movements threatening democracy around the world. Nobre describes the rise of the movement that elected Bolsonaro as a reactionary and anti-democratic highjack of the democratic impulse unleashed by the June 2013 uprisings, when millions of Brazilians took to the streets to protest against a dysfunctional political system, and frames the Brazilian case within the global crisis that exposed the limits of a democracy based on the neoliberal consensus after the 2008 financial crisis. According to Nobre, the June 2013 uprisings in Brazil was part of the global cycle of popular protests that swept many countries between 2011 and 2013, reclaiming a new model of democracy which could go beyond bureaucratic and technocratic parties and cabinets. However, in Brazil, as in many other places, this initial democratic impulse was captured by new far-right movements which are now posing serious threats to democracy. This book intends to collaborate in a change of attitude, both theoretical and practical, that may help finding ways of fighting the authoritarian threat to democracy as well as of deepening democracy as a life form. The decline of neoliberalism not only did not produce any effectively progressive realist alternative, but also opened the way for a dispute over models of society in which democracy itself has ceased to represent the primary reference in disputes over the best way to regulate life in society. Democracy is no longer self-evident, it is in danger. And the only way to save it is by inventing new democratic practices to overcome the limits imposed by institutional political systems no longer capable of channeling the real struggles in the societies they claim to represent.

Prosecutors, Voters and the Criminalization of Corruption in Latin America
Prosecutors, Voters and the Criminalization of Corruption in Latin America

Author: Ezequiel A. Gonzalez-Ocantos

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2023-04-06

Total Pages: 597

ISBN-13: 1009329790

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Lava Jato, a transnational bribery case that started in Brazil and spread throughout Latin America, upended elections and collapsed governments. Why did the investigation gain momentum in some countries but not others? The book traces reforms that enhanced prosecutors' capacity to combat white-collar crime and shows that Lava Jato became a full-blown anti-corruption crusade where reforms were coupled with the creation of aggressive taskforces. For some, prosecutors' unconventional methods were necessary and justified. Others saw dangerous affronts to due process and democracy. Given these controversies, how did voters react to a once-in-a-generation attempt to clean politics? Can prosecutors trigger hope, conveying a message of possible regeneration? Or does aggressive prosecution erode the tacit consensus around the merits of anti-corruption? Prosecutors, Voters and The Criminalization of Corruption in Latin America is a study of the impact of accountability through criminalization, one that dissects the drivers and dilemmas of resolute transparency efforts.

The Digitalisation of Anti-Corruption in Brazil
The Digitalisation of Anti-Corruption in Brazil

Author: Fernanda Odilla

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2024-10-31

Total Pages: 123

ISBN-13: 1040133355

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This book investigates how digital technologies, such as social media and artificial intelligence, can contribute to combatting corruption in Brazil. Brazil, with its long history of scandals and abundant empirical data on digital media usage, serves as a perfect case study to trace the development of bottom-up and top-down digital anti-corruption technologies and their main features. This book highlights the connections between anti-corruption reforms and the rapid implementation of innovative solutions, primarily developed by tech-savvy public officials and citizens committed to anti-corruption efforts. The book draws on interviews with experts, activists and civil servants, as well as open-source materials and social media data to identify key actors, their practices, challenges and limitations of anti-corruption technologies. The result is a thorough analysis of the process of digitalisation of anti-corruption in Brazil, with a theoretical framework which can also be applied to other countries. The book introduces the concept of “integrity techies” to encompass social and political actors who develop and facilitate anti-corruption technologies, and discusses different outcomes and issues associated with digital innovation in anti-corruption. This book will be a key resource for students, researchers and practitioners interested in technologies and development in Brazil and Latin America, as well as corruption and anti-corruption studies more broadly.

Legal Professionals in White-Collar Crime
Legal Professionals in White-Collar Crime

Author: Maria Eugenia Trombini

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2023-02-25

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 3658407476

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This work is dedicated to map the modes of thinking and acting of legal professionals who work in white-collar crime. Lawyers, whose decisions generate economic and political consequences, stand at a strategic location between the state and key segments of society. This monograph’s approach is linked to the foundations of the sociology of knowledge, that culture antecedes and anchors social action. It starts by reconstructing the worldviews that legal professionals hold about corruption and its main participants, and then advances to examine decision-making. The author is introducing an innovative dataset comprised of interviews, court records and biographical data to investigate Brazilian lawyers (1985-2021). The study’s qualitative findings show a professional cognitive pattern that is apolitical and technical, and criticizes unskilled people working in the state administration more than businesspeople. The dominant mindset understands corporate-state relations as a self-feeding system that requires qualification and awareness of international trends to counter crime. The decision-making patterns confirm: (i) that prosecutors and judges prioritize the ends, fighting corruption, and use existing legislation and organizational resources to secure verdicts; (ii) the asymmetries between how bribe-payers and bribe-payees are treated.

Constitutional Erosion in Brazil
Constitutional Erosion in Brazil

Author: Emilio Peluso Neder Meyer

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2021-07-15

Total Pages: 334

ISBN-13: 1509941967

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This book provides a fascinating analysis of a single jurisdiction, Brazil, and accounts for both the successes and the failures of its most recent constitutional project, inaugurated by the Constitution of 1988. It sets out the following aspects of the constitutional development and erosion: - the different phases of the promised transition from military rule to a 'social-democratic constitutionalism'; - the obstacles to democratisation derived from the absence of true institutional reforms in the judicial branch and in the civil-military relationship; - the legal and social practices which maintained a structure that obstructed the emergence of an effective social-democracy, such as the neoliberal pattern, the acceptance in the political field of unlawful organisations, such as the milícias, and the way the digital revolution has been harming the formation of democratic sovereignty. Situating Brazil in the global context of the revival of authoritarianism, it details the factors which are common to the third wave of democratisation reflux. Accounting for those aspects, particular to the Brazilian jurisdiction, it shows that there is a tension in the Brazilian constitution. On the one hand, such constitutionalism was renewed by democratic pressure on governments to undertake social politics since 1988. On the other hand, it retained authoritarian practices through the hands of diverse institutions and political actors. By exploring the ideas of constitutional erosion and collapse, as well as democratic, social and digital constitutionalism, the book presents a comparative analysis of Brazil and other jurisdictions, including the United States, South Africa, and Peru.

Political Corruption and Organizational Crime
Political Corruption and Organizational Crime

Author: Elizangela Valarini

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-10-01

Total Pages: 425

ISBN-13: 3658343745

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Level of compliance - one of the most important prerequisites of good governance - varies widely across countries of the Global North and the less developed, Global South. Acts of non-compliance, such as electoral irregularities, dubious deals between private and public sectors, questionable role of the justice systems and financial scandals, though they vary greatly across countries, are an omnipresent reality of contemporary life. This volume has brought together a number of case studies of such deviant behavior in political, juridical and corporate fields, from several countries of Asia, Europe and South America, within a common framework. Instead of a moral approach based exclusively on the legality and illegality of the act, the authors of these essays dissect non-compliance analytically, taking culture and context into account. They argue that, while criminal and corrupt dealings deserve to be exposed by all means from an ethical point of view, seen from an interdisciplinary angle, one needs to probe deeper into the dynamic that leads to such non-compliance with the law in the first place.

Democracy and Brazil
Democracy and Brazil

Author: Bernardo Bianchi

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-09-23

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 1000168506

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Democracy and Brazil: Collapse and Regression discusses the de-democratization process underway in contemporary Brazil. The relative political stability that characterized domestic politics in the 2000s ended with the sudden emergence of a series of massive protests in 2013, followed by the controversial impeachment of Dilma Rousseff in 2016 and the election of Jair Bolsonaro in 2018. In this new, more conservative period in Brazilian politics, a series of institutional reforms deepened the distance between citizens and representatives. Brazil's current political crisis cannot be understood without reference to the continual growth of right-wing and ultra-right discourse, on the one hand, and to the neoliberal ideology that pervades the minds of large parts of the Brazilian elite, on the other. Twenty experts on Brazil across different fields discuss the ongoing political turmoil in the light of distinct problems: geopolitics, gender, religion, media, indigenous populations, right-wing strategies, and new forms of coup, among others. Updated analyses enriched with historical perspective help to illuminate the intricate issues that will determine the country's fate in years to come. Democracy and Brazil: Collapse and Regression will interest students and scholars of Brazilian Politics and History, Latin America, and the broader field of democracy studies.

Global Strategic Management
Global Strategic Management

Author: Philippe Lasserre

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2022-11-03

Total Pages: 689

ISBN-13: 1350932981

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Seamlessly blending academic rigour and practicality, this textbook provides an introduction to global business strategy. Assuming a born global perspective, Global Strategic Management is supported by ample pedagogical features, including numerous case studies and examples featuring both established multinationals and unknown SMEs from across the globe. The book takes an applied approach to global business strategy, emphasising functional parts of international business (managing marketing, operations, HR and finance). The text has been widely updated to incorporate the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, such as work from anywhere and deglobalization. New to this fifth edition is increased material on sustainability and corporate social responsibility, including discussion of climate change, NGOs and sustainable development goals. Subjects such as the impact of technology, cryptocurrency and global strategy in the digital space are discussed in more detail, while the conflict in Ukraine is also considered.

Mãos Limpas e Lava Jato
Mãos Limpas e Lava Jato

Author: Rodrigo Régnier Chemim Guimarães

Publisher:

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 271

ISBN-13: 9788568014424

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A investigação de um episódio aparentemente isolado de corrupção em pouco tempo começa a desvendar um gigantesco esquema de pilhagem dos cofres públicos e pagamento de propinas. Foi assim na Mãos Limpas da Itália e na Lava Jato do Brasil. Separadas por duas décadas, as duas operações expuseram a corrupção sistêmica que assola os dois países, com o desvio contínuo de fortunas incalculáveis para as contas de políticos e de partidos de todos os matizes ideológicos e de gestores públicos e privados. Contratos superfaturados, licitações fraudadas e lavagem de dinheiro sustentam a Tangentopoli italiana e a Propinolândia brasileira, protegidas por legislações que neutralizam o combate e a punição dos crimes de colarinho-branco. A análise comparativa de Rodrigo Chemim, procurador do Ministério Público e doutor em Direito de Estado, revela perturbadoras semelhanças entre Mãos Limpas e Lava Jato, desde o modus operandi dos corruptos das esferas pública e privada até as manobras e desculpas para se safarem da justiça. Mãos Limpas e Lava Jato- a corrupção se olha no espelho retrata o que aconteceu na Itália e alerta para o que pode acontecer no Brasil.