The Consolidation of Social Assistance Policy in Brazil
"Brazil's trajectory in the field of income transfers is quite well known internationally. Especially after the implementation of Bolsa Familia, Brazil's experiences in the field have been the object of constant references, studies and analyses. Such experiences were even used as a foundation for a wide array of South-South cooperation initiatives. Less known, however, is that conditional cash transfers are just a part of the non-contributory social-protection system that Brazil has been developing over the past 20 years." (?)
Social Development through Efficient Policies, Evaluating the Impact of Bolsa Familia
The Brazilian welfare state has developed over time in relation to national and global trends. This study analyses the creation of Latin Americas largest Conditional Cash Transfer program in relation to these trends. The thesis provides an historical overview of the creation of Conditional Cash Transfers in the country that lastly ended with Bolsa Familia. Alongside events that led to Bolsa Familia, the nation witnessed the development of social welfare initiatives as well as alternative poverty reducing programs. The study analyses this in the context of the creation of the Brazilian welfare. The question guiding the study is: Has the Bolsa Famila programme helped to reduce poverty in Brazil? It is argued that Brazil has been successful in reducing its poverty rate as a result of the programme. The study looks deeper into the structure of Bolsa Familia in order to view its results and effects both advantages and disadvantages of the programme are assessed. Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za
The Internet and the Changing Beijing-Taipei Relations: Toward Unification or Fragmentation?
Information and its technologies facilitate the exercise of what has been called “soft power,” a concept that differentiates information from the conventional dimensions of “hard power,” which is mainly associated with military force and economic influence. Soft power, according to Nye, a former Assistant Secretary of Defense of the United States, means that “A country may obtain the outcomes it wants in world politics because other countries want to follow it, admiring its values, emulating its example, aspiring to its level of prosperity and openness. In this sense it is just as important to set the agenda in world politics and attract others as it is to force them to change through the threat or use of military or economic weapons.”1