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The new institutionalism has become a dynamic field of work in political science. This paper shows how the new institutionalism, in its heterodox version, has taken up the research program of old institutionalism, while orthodoxy has incorporated the methodological developments of behaviorism and rational choice. The result is an approach that provides a framework for analyzing the multiple problems of politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a few years of implementation, the Bolsa Familia Program, which covers more than 12 million families, has become the largest program of income transfer in the world and confirmed the distribution of money as the predominant form of social policy in Brazil. Despite the evidence of the effectiveness of such intervention in the economic sphere, when we look at the relationship between the beneficiaries and the agents responsible for the policy, other research questions emerge. When analyzing the trajectory of this policy from the federal sphere to the beneficiary, one can recognize the diverse paths the implementation of this program takes. This paper inquires about the impacts of this program on citizenship, through the organization and participation (or absence) of the beneficiaries in politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1981 Chile began a wave of privatization and market-friendly reforms of social security systems in Latin America; Argentina did the same in 1993. In 2008, Chile and Argentina reformed their pension systems again. Chile maintains the private capitalization system complemented with a basic pension and solidarity payments while Argentina eliminated the capitalization pillar and replaced it by a single integrated delivery system publicly administered. This paper analyzes the policy reforms of pension systems as a result of the comparison between countries, as well as between market and state led reforms and state led reforms: Chile (1981 and 2008) and Argentina (1993 and 2008). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy evaluation is, in a general sense, a function of techniques and methods upon which to assess the objectives, efficiency and impact of public action. This paper identifies a new dimension, notably politics, which provides improved social results despite the fact that it remains hidden, rather than emerging as a key asset for improved governmental performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notions of governability and Populism have been used increasingly in political sciences papers on Latin America. The lack of precision in theirs meanings increased the same way. In this article, we argue that such difficulty lies in theirs uses in three ideal types of speech registries: the academic speech, the bureaucratic speech, and the political speech. We consider that these three uses of Populism and governability, with theirs respective logics, can generate much confusion. We propose therefore some reflections that try to clarify theses notions from the logic of the academic speech, but taking into account the uses that are made in both other registries of speeches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new institutionalism has become a dynamic field of work in political science. This paper shows how the new institutionalism, in its heterodox version, has taken up the research program of old institutionalism, while orthodoxy has incorporated the methodological developments of behaviorism and rational choice. The result is an approach that provides a framework for analyzing the multiple problems of politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]