FIFA/IOC‐Sanctioned Development and the Imminence of Erotic Space

Based on ethnographic research conducted since April 2014, this paper will examine the intersection between mega‐event security apparatuses, event‐led urbanism, and local geographies of desire. We argue that urban sanitisation strategies (particularly those derived from a constellation of foreign interests) threaten local geographies of desire but remain dependent upon erotic space and subjectivities in (trans)national exchange and everyday economic salvation. The erasure of sexual diversity is a case with which to examine the impact of FIFA/IOC‐sanctioned urban renewal, and the manner in which local bodies (particularly those deemed sexually ‘deviant’) are repeatedly forced to circumvent these globally determined processes of development.     

From Car Wash to Bolsonaro: Law and Lawyers in Brazil's Illiberal Turn (2014–2018)

Law and lawyers tend to be seen as either preferential victims of or key counterforces to rising illiberalism. Brazil offers a good testbed for these claims. Brazilian democracy has deteriorated considerably, as epitomized by the election of Jair Bolsonaro in 2018. Yet, since 2014, law and lawyers have become ever more central to Brazil's field of state power. As the anti-corruption initiative Car Wash (Lava Jato) gained momentum, Brazilian judges and prosecutors were celebrated, locally and globally, as champions of transparency, accountability, and ‘the rule of law’. Following a closer look at Car Wash, this article questions such idealization of law and lawyers. Drawing on research on press interviews and statements by Car Wash legal officers, I find that, throughout the case, they produced a ‘political grammar’ that is closer to illiberalism than many would predict. Based on recent developments in the sociology of fields, I argue that the production of these grammars yields societal effects that deserve scholarly and civic attention.     

Long Term Influences of Age–Education Transition on the Brazilian Labour Market

The objective of this study is to estimate the long term mean earnings of the male Brazilian population, taking into account the ageing process of the population and the increase in educational attainment. Using census data, household sample surveys, as well as population and education projections, estimates indicate that an ageing population and an increase in education will have a 2 percent impact on the annual growth of an average income in Brazil by 2050. The challenge for the future is to improve the proportion of the Brazilian population with completed college degrees.     

Literacy: A Process of Interpreting the World as a Text

Abstract

Literacy today means developing a technical skill on an electronic machine. (French 1990)     

THE ORDER OF QUESTIONS IN A SURVEY ON CITIZEN SATISFACTION WITH PUBLIC SERVICES: LESSONS FROM A SPLIT‐BALLOT EXPERIMENT

Surveys of citizen satisfaction with local public services have become widespread, with the results increasingly used to reorganize services, to allocate budgets, and to hold managers accountable. But evidence from a split‐ballot experiment that we conducted suggests that the order of questions in a citizen survey has important effects on reported satisfaction with specific public services as well as overall citizen satisfaction. Moreover, the correlations of specific service ratings with overall satisfaction, and thus the identification of key drivers of overall satisfaction, also turn out to be highly sensitive to question order. These findings are in line with research on priming and question order effects in the survey methodology literature, but these effects have not been carefully examined before in the context of citizen surveys and public administration research. Policy and management implications of these finding are discussed.     

The impact of information acquisition on EU performance judgements

Public evaluations of EU performance are not only critical indicators of the EU's output legitimacy, but also shape future support for European integration. For citizens to monitor the political performance of the EU they need relevant facts, yet it is anything but clear that gains in information about EU performance cause change in judgements about such performance. Drawing on two‐wave panel data, this article examines whether acquiring information following a real‐world EU decision‐making event alters citizens' judgements about the utilitarian and democratic performance of the EU. It also examines how this effect differs for people with different levels of general political information. It is found that citizens who acquired performance‐relevant information became more approving of the EU's utilitarian performance but did not change their judgements about its democratic performance. Also, individuals with moderate levels of general political information were affected most strongly by new facts about performance. The implications of these findings for EU‐level representative democracy are considered.     

The Olympics Economic Bonanza （Ⅱ）

THE demand for capital and financial services in the leadup to the Beijing Olympic Games is immense. Come August, over 10,000 athletes, 70,000 working personnel and 21,000 registered members of the press will gather in China＇s capital. Entries to the PRC by foreign nationals are expected to exceed 4.6 million, representing an estimated RMB 4.5 billion worth of consumption. Demand for foreign currency exchange,     

After Gold,What＇s Next？——Chinese Athletes in Retirement

WHEN Chinese badminton player Zhang Ning won gold for a second time in the women＇s singles at the Beijing Olympics, she knelt on the ground and cried. Tears were still running down her cheeks when she mounted the podium. No doubt this was partly because the victory was also a farewell： soon after successfully defending the Olympic championship, the 33-year-old Zhang announced her retirement, bringing her 23- year badminton career to an end.