Traditional Politics and Regime Change in Brazil (Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics)

This 1996 book is about politics in Brazil during the military regime of 1964–85 and the transition to democracy. Unlike most books about contemporary Brazilian politics that focus on promising signs of change, this book seeks to explain remarkable political continuity in the Brazilian political system. It attributes the persistence of traditional politics and the dominance of regionally based, traditional political elites in particular to the manner in which the economic and political strategies of the military, together with the transition to democracy, reinforced the clientelistic, personalistic, and regional basis of state-society relations. The book focuses on the political competition and representation in the state of Minas Gerais. "Landmark study draws connections between subnational politics and macropolitical change in Brazil. Uses case study of Minas Gerais state to show persistence of traditional patronage politics under military rule and its repercussions in the subsequent democratic transition. Theoretically rich and cogently presented; a major contribution on Brazilian politics. Recommended"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 57.http://www.loc.gov/hlas/ From 1964 to 1985 Brazil, Latin America's largest and most industrialized country, was governed by a military dictatorship, which on the surface was unlike its predecessors and was soon to become the model for other authoritarian regimes on the continent. This 1996 book is about the persistence of traditional politics in Brazil after 1964. It focuses on the dominance of regionally based, traditional political elites in the authoritarian regime of 1964 to 1985 and on the process of democratization. Frances Hagopian. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.