Victor Almeida De Araujo

Measuring Presidential Dominance over Cabinets in Presidential Systems: Constitutional Design and Power Sharing

This study focuses on the degree of political dominance exercised on cabinets by the executive chief in presidential systems. According to a debate that began in the 1990s, presidential systems are characterized by a non-collegial decision-making process, led by and personified in the figure of the president, in contrast to parliamentary systems where a joint decision-making process is prevalent. The key argument of this research note is that, although the majority of presidents have the constitutional power to remove cabinet ministers, the executive decision-making process in presidential systems is not necessarily vertical or based on a non-collegial process. By building a new index, we reveal a significant variation in the executive power exerted by presidents over their cabinets. To classify the degree of political dominance of presidents over their cabinets, we analyzed the rules of cabinet decision-making processes as defined in 18 Latin American constitutions.

WOODFRAME: LIGHT FRAMING HOUSES FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

The building technique of light wooden framing, or woodframe, represents a great innovative goal of construction, due to the very efficient levels of rationalization of material, operational flexibility and productive agility. In addition, excessive use of natural materials of renewable character in the woodframes, as the wood of planted forests, contributes to sustainability, a desired factor in most modern homes. In recent years, Latin American countries have suffered from the constant housing deficit, which destroys the possibilities of the first property by the neediest populations. Therefore, it is necessary to propagate studies, research and information on industrialized housing construction techniques, such as woodframe. This study focused on the exhibition of this innovative wooden building typology, emphasizing its advantages, importance, types, and its current panorama in countries in development stage, such as the countries of Latin America. Currently, woodframe is known as a modern wooden residential technique, and it is conquering the public of all kind of economic classes, because of its innovation, lightness, competitive costs, and also efficient levels of sustainability, cleanness, assembly time, and rationalization of raw materials.

Difficulties of wooden housing production sector in Brazil

ABSTRACT This research identified the central hindrances found in Brazilian wooden housing scenario in the fields of finished product, producer, and sector. Thus, a questionnaire with three qualitative questions based on multiple-choice answers allowed investigating the difficulties faced by these producers in Brazil. This sector still faces obstacles in the three observed fields, especially for the negative aspects of house financing, housing technique certification, skilled hand labour, general costs incurred in local production, tax exemptions, public policies, utilization of wooden houses in public works, and other factors. These obstacles in wooden housing sector have created limitations of production potential and restrictions of its market. A current panorama from these obstacles was formed, which could contribute with sectoral development. Actions such as creation and institution of incentives and specific policies should consolidate as the main direction to reduce these difficulties faced by the wooden housing producers.

Mecanismos de alinhamento de preferências em governos multipartidários: controle de políticas públicas no presidencialismo brasileiro

Preference alignment in multiparty governments: control of public policy in Brazilian presidentialism The formation of multiparty governments increases the risk of asymmetry of information between principals and agents so that the cabinets policy conflicts are reflected in the behavior of parties in parliament. Several studies reveal that mutual control between cabinet parties is a way to compensate for the loss of information inherent in the delegation. While analysts often focus on the policy-making process, I argue that there is a more diverse set of strategies that allow parties to scrutinize policies implemented by their cabinet partners. To test this argument, I analyze the multiparty governments formed in Brazil between 1995 and 2014. I use network analysis and machine learning—Gibbs Sampling Method, Bayesian algorithm derived from Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA)—to show that, in situations in which ministerial portfolios are distributed to actors with different policy preferences, parties intensify the use of Information Requirements (RIC), an important tool for horizontal control, to monitor the ministries, policies, and programs that interest them. The structure of the intra-cabinet control networks varies according to the importance of the ministries: the parties allocated in the ministries with the largest portion of the federal budget—those with the most resources for the implementation of public policies—are the actors with the greatest degree of centrality in the intracabinet mutual control networks.