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Articles

Vol. 35 No. 1 (2015)

Political science in Brazil in the last decade: nationalization and the slow overcoming of parochialism

DOI
https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-090X2015000100002
Submitted
December 19, 2019
Published
2019-12-19

Abstract

The years between 2005 and 2014 were one of the best decades of political science (PS) in Brazil. The growth of the economy, the consequent increase in public spending on universities and scientific activity in general, and the policies pursued by the Ministry of Education played a key role in bringing this outcome about. Effective collective action within the Brazilian PS community was also a vital contributing factor. Consequently, Brazilian PS is now closer to the potential generated by the country’s population and economy, as far as the Latin American context is concerned. In addition, the discipline has been nationalized, and its research agenda is now less parochial nowadays. On the negative side, however, the output of Brazilian political scientists still stands out for its relatively low international visibility. Moreover, Brazilian PS remains characterized by a scarce systematic application of well thought-out qualitative
methods. Finally, a considerable uncertainty over the resources available to the discipline has recently surfaced, given the years of fiscal adjustment lying ahead.