This book is about politics in Brazil during the military regime of 1964–85 and the transition to democracy. Unlike most books about contemporary Brazilian politics that focus on promising signs of change, this book seeks to explain remarkable political continuity in the Brazilian political system. It attributes the persistence of traditional politics and the dominance of regionally based, traditional political elites in particular to the manner in which the economic and political strategies of the military, together with the transition to democracy, reinforced the clientelistic, personalistic, and regional basis of state-society relations. The book focuses on the political competition and representation in the state of Minas Gerais.

List of tables and figures; Preface; Glossary of abbreviations and Portuguese terms; 1. Introduction: traditional politics, new authoritarianism; 2. Oligarchical power and traditional politics in Minas Gerais; 3. The modern political economy of traditional politics; 4. Bureaucratic authoritarianism and the state elite; 5. Back to patronage: state clientelism in Minas Gerais; 6. Authoritarian politics and traditional elites; 7. The traditional political elite and the transition to democracy; 8. Continuity in change: Brazilian authoritarianism and democratization in comparative perspective; Appendix: the Minas elite; References; Index.