Democratic Brazil : actors, institutions, and processes / edited by Peter R. Kingstone and Timothy J. Power ; foreword by Thomas E. Skidmore.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Foreword: A New Test for Brazilian Democracy / Thomas E. Skidmore -- Introduction: Still Standing or Standing Still? The Brazilian Democratic Regime Since 1985 / Peter R. Kingstone and Timothy J. Power -- Pt. I. The Institutional and Policy-Making Context. 1. Political Institutions in Democratic Brazil: Politics as a Permanent Constitutional Convention / Timothy J. Power. 2. The Brazilian State in the New Democracy / Kurt Weyland. 3. Devolving Democracy? Political Decentralization and the New Brazilian Federalism / Alfred P. Montero. 4. Reinventing Local Government? Municipalities and Intergovernmental Relations in Democratic Brazil / David Samuels -- Pt. II. Critical Actors in the New Democracy. 5. Assessing Civil-Military Relations in Postauthoritarian Brazil / Wendy Hunter. 6. The Making of a Loyal Opposition: The Workers' Party (PT) and the Consolidation of Democracy in Brazil / William R. Nylen.

7. The Catholic Church, Religious Pluralism, and Democracy in Brazil / Kenneth P. Serbin. 8. Democratizing Pressures from Below? Social Movements in the New Brazilian Democracy / Kathryn Hochstetler -- Pt. 3. Emerging Processes in the New Democracy. 9. Muddling Through Gridlock: Economic Policy Performance, Business Responses, and Democratic Sustainability / Peter R. Kingstone. 10. Democracy Looks South: Mercosul and the Politics of Brazilian Trade Strategy / Jeffrey Cason. 11. An Ugly Democracy? State Violence and the Rule of Law in Postauthoritarian Brazil / Anthony W. Pereira. 12. A New Brazil? The Changing Sociodemographic Context of Brazilian Democracy / Timothy J. Power and J. Timmons Roberts.