Doctoral Dissertation Research: Governance Without Government: Explaining Order in a Brazilian Favela

博士论文研究：没有政府的治理：解释巴西贫民窟的秩序

• 批准号: 0902216
• 负责人: John Jones
• 金额: $ 1.2万
• 依托单位: University of Arizona
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-04-01 至 2011-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0902216&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Governance; Without

More than half of city dwellers worldwide, roughly 1.6 billion people, currently live in poverty. In Brazil, for example, 51.7 million people reside in favelas (i.e., urban slums), a figure equaling 36.6 percent of the country's total urban population. Though each favela community is unique, like impoverished communities elsewhere, most residents confront a lack of state resources (e.g., hospitals, schools, urban infrastructure) and rarely participate significantly in political processes. Far from devolving into massive, anarchic urban sprawls as one might expect, however, these communities uphold a striking level of social stability and political structure: researchers consistently report that social and political order is maintained in Brazilian slum communities, even when official governing bodies have no visible presence. Still unknown is how and why a majority of favelas, despite the limited presence of a visible governing authority, continue to function like any other Brazilian neighborhood. This doctoral dissertation research queries how governance (i.e., the coordination of complex social systems and steering of societal development) is produced and maintained in spaces where the institutions of government appear to be essentially absent. Through a case study of a favela in a midsized city in northeast Brazil (Fortaleza), and relying upon a mixed-methodological research design (e.g., semi-structured interviews, focus groups, participant observation, archival research), this doctoral dissertation research seeks to explain the paradox of governance in ungoverned spaces. By introducing urban development research to theoretical contributions of research on governance, this study will help to not only resolve existing debates over social cohesion in non-governed areas, but also to provide greater clarity and substance to two dynamic social science traditions. For political theory, it will bring empirical transparency by considering a case (urban slums) that is being duplicated in thousands of cities across the globe. And for urban development, it will move beyond the confines of Brazil's more studied urban agglomerations, joining primary data with a theoretical investigation to understand socio-political order in one of the world's most rapidly growing communities. This research helps to explain political stability in slum communities and, even more importantly, will provided insights on what sorts of pragmatic measures might alleviate the effects of widespread poverty.This award is co-funded by NSF's Office of International Science and Engineering.

目前，全球超过一半的城市居民（约 16 亿人）生活在贫困之中。例如，在巴西，有 5170 万人居住在贫民窟（即城市贫民窟），这一数字相当于该国城市总人口的 36.6%。尽管每个贫民窟社区都是独一无二的，就像其他地方的贫困社区一样，但大多数居民面临着缺乏国家资源（例如医院、学校、城市基础设施）的问题，并且很少积极参与政治进程。然而，这些社区远没有像人们想象的那样演变成大规模、无政府主义的城市扩张，而是保持了惊人的社会稳定性和政治结构：研究人员一致报告说，即使官方管理机构没有明显存在，巴西贫民窟社区的社会和政治秩序仍然得到维持。目前仍不清楚的是，尽管可见的管理机构的存在有限，但大多数贫民窟如何以及为何继续像巴西其他社区一样运作。这篇博士论文研究询问治理（即复杂社会系统的协调和社会发展的指导）如何在政府机构似乎基本上不存在的空间中产生和维持。通过对巴西东北部一个中型城市（福塔莱萨）贫民窟的案例研究，并依靠混合方法研究设计（例如半结构化访谈、焦点小组、参与观察、档案研究），本博士论文研究旨在解释无人治理空间中治理的悖论。 通过将城市发展研究引入治理研究的理论贡献，这项研究不仅有助于解决有关非治理地区社会凝聚力的现有争论，而且还为两个动态的社会科学传统提供了更清晰的内容和实质内容。对于政治理论来说，它将通过考虑在全球数千个城市重复的案例（城市贫民窟）来带来实证透明度。对于城市发展而言，它将超越巴西研究较多的城市群的范围，将原始数据与理论调查相结合，以了解世界上发展最快的社区之一的社会政治秩序。 这项研究有助于解释贫民窟社区的政治稳定性，更重要的是，将为哪些务实措施可以减轻普遍贫困的影响提供见解。该奖项由美国国家科学基金会国际科学与工程办公室共同资助。