Subnational Developmentalism: Brazil in Comparative Perspective
"In an attempt to understand the process of economic liberalization that has swept the globe over the last two decades, scholars of comparative political economy have focused primarily on national-level politics. However, most studies overlook the fact that decentralization has enabled subnational actors to re-claim national ""state developmentalist"" roles through policy innovations at the state and local levels---giving rise to a new phenomenon I term subnational developmentalism. While situated within a common national context, I demonstrate that subnational actors have responded quite differently to the challenges of the post-statist economy and, in the process, forged divergent institutions for market governance at the subnational level. The main aim of my dissertation, in turn, is to identify the conditions under which subnational actors in the developing world are likely to develop innovative strategies for promoting industrial cooperation and economic transformation. Why, in other words, do ""developmental synergies"" and ""good government"" practices thrive in some regions and not in others? Given important resource constraints and pervasive collective action problems, I argue that such cooperation hinges critically on subnational patterns of electoral and social mobilization, political party development, and the creation of cross-class coalitions. I employ case study analysis and subnational comparative method to evaluate these questions, focusing on contemporary Brazil (1990--present)."
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign