The Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) is Brazil's "leading government audit institution"; it is the only one dealing exclusively with auditing. The TCU is part of the federal legislative branch, which the TCU assists in its constitutional attribution of overseeing the government finances (Article 71 of the Federal Constitution). Grosso modo, its structure includes, on one side, a professional corps with 1,576 auditors and, on the other, a college of nine judges called ministers that decide on cases. These ministers are chosen by Congress (six) and by the president (three, upon confirmation by the Senate). The requirements for becoming a member are rather loose: the appointees need only be between 35 and 65 years of age, have good reputation and knowledge on a number of topics, and ten years of work experience in a relevant area (Art. 73, §1). Observers say they usually are at the height or the end of their political career when chosen to join the TCU. Further, nominations are highly politicised. With all that, the connections to politics that most of its ministers have – five in the current composition have run for office – seem to be a perfect formula for partisan dominance of the Tribunal. However, the TCU has shown relative independence from daily politics. The book attempts at demonstrating how.

This report assesses the role of Brazil's Supreme Audit Institution – the Federal Court of Accounts (Tribunal de Contas da União or TCU) – in enhancing accountability and informing decision making within the federal government.

"Formerly known as the International Citation Manual"--p. xv.

With contributions from leading international scholars, this Handbook offers the most rigorous and up-to-date analyses of virtually every aspect of Brazilian politics, including inequality, environmental politics, foreign policy, economic policy making, social policy, and human rights. The Handbook is divided into three major sections: Part 1 focuses on mass behavior, while Part 2 moves to representation, and Part 3 treats political economy and policy. The Handbook proffers five chapters on mass politics, focusing on corruption, participation, gender, race, and religion; three chapters on civil society, assessing social movements, grass-roots participation, and lobbying; seven chapters focusing on money and campaigns, federalism, retrospective voting, partisanship, ideology, the political right, and negative partisanship; five chapters on coalitional presidentialism, participatory institutions, judicial politics, and the political character of the bureaucracy, and eight chapters on inequality, the environment, foreign policy, economic and industrial policy, social programs, and human rights. This Handbook is an essential resource for students, researchers, and all those looking to understand contemporary Brazilian politics.

Through a comparative analysis of the development of auditing practices in governments across the globe, Auditing Practices in Local Governments: An International Comparison provides a contemporary overview of public sector auditing practices at both local and state level.

This book addresses the field of populisms from a contemporary perspective. The book brings a conceptual, qualitative, culturally sensitive and transformative approach to containing populist governance. The authors set out not only examine and compile the most varied conceptual definitions, but also present a theoretical definition in which they recognize a myriad of variable properties of populisms which are strategies commonly used in specific political contexts. Furthermore, with its own methodology, the book shows the use of a working method whose analysis was designed to apply the definition of populism applicable in any national context and answer the following hypothesis: the political and normative actions undertaken in the political system could be characterized as a populist movement in its formal and/or informal aspects, directly or indirectly? In this perspective, variable properties are attributes that allow to establish a traceable relationship through a set of specific indicators for its operationalization and empirical tests. The book also applies the definition of populisms in the political and normative actions undertaken by Jair Messias Bolsonaro in Brazil, presenting an extensive repertoire of mechanisms which understanding could contribute to contain populism, with the proper adaptations to the characteristics of each context. Reading Populisms will certainly contribute to the readers having more conceptual tools to analyze this global phenomenon that threatens the building of democratic constitutionalism as well as to understand how the growth of populism is associated with the weaknesses of liberal democracy.

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.