Local Political Elites in Pará
Local Political Elites in Pará
Elites Locais nos Municípios Paraenses: quem são e qual a sua visão de mundo?
2009–2010 · UFPA/NAEA · SEDECT · FADESP · Pará · Political Elites · Regional Development
Local Political Elites · Political Power · Decision-Making · Social Networks · Public Policy · Regional Differentiation · Amazonia
Project Overview
Local Political Elites in Pará — Elites Locais nos Municípios Paraenses: quem são e qual a sua visão de mundo? was a research project examining the composition, influence and perceptions of local political elites in different regions of the Brazilian state of Pará.
Conducted at the Núcleo de Altos Estudos Amazônicos (NAEA) of the Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA) and funded by the Secretaria de Estado de Desenvolvimento, Ciência e Tecnologia (SEDECT), with administrative support from FADESP, the project addressed two interconnected questions: Who constitutes a local political elite, and how can such elites be identified empirically? It then investigated how influential local actors perceived their municipalities, their development potential and the actors and organizations capable of promoting, shaping or obstructing local and regional development.
I coordinated the research project. Its comparative design covered municipalities located across the different Integration Regions (Regiões de Integração) of Pará and sought to capture the considerable historical, economic and institutional diversity existing within the state.
The empirical surveys were carried out during the project. The original research datasets are no longer available, which limits retrospective reanalysis of the primary data. The surviving project documentation nevertheless provides evidence of the research design, conceptual framework and methodological approach.
Research Context
Pará is characterized by substantial differences in historical settlement, economic structures, resource use, migration, urbanization, political organization and institutional development.
These differences raised an important question for research on regional development: whether political elites operating within the same state-level and national institutional frameworks nevertheless develop different regional configurations of political influence, networks, interests and perceptions of development.
The project therefore did not approach local political elites as a homogeneous social category.
Instead, it investigated how political influence is constituted within different municipal and regional contexts and how historical transformations—including migration, infrastructure development, mineral extraction, agricultural expansion, urbanization and the creation of new municipalities—can alter existing structures of local power and create opportunities for new political and economic actors.
This comparative regional perspective connected research on political elites to a broader concern with the differentiated trajectories of regional development in Amazonia.
Identifying Local Political Elites
A central methodological problem concerned the definition and empirical identification of a political elite.
Holding formal political office does not necessarily correspond to effective political influence. Conversely, actors without formal governmental positions may possess considerable capacity to influence political agendas, decisions and development processes.
The project therefore avoided defining political elites simply as elected representatives or occupants of senior administrative positions.
Political elites were approached more broadly as individuals or groups capable of influencing social behaviour and, particularly, of influencing, promoting or obstructing political decisions and agendas. This required attention not only to institutional positions but also to social, political and economic relationships through which influence could be exercised.
This distinction between formal position and effective influence became a central feature of the research design.
A Multi-Method Approach to Elite Identification
The project drew on four established approaches within elite research:
- positional analysis, identifying actors through positions occupied in political, administrative, economic and other relevant organizations;
- decisional analysis, examining participation in and influence over significant decisions;
- reputational analysis, identifying actors regarded by informed observers as particularly influential within the local context;
- prosopographical analysis, examining collective biographies, social backgrounds, careers and relationships among members of elites.
Rather than relying exclusively on one method, the project developed a combined approach. Positional identification provided an initial map of potentially relevant actors, while reputational and decisional criteria were intended to identify forms of influence that could not be inferred from institutional position alone. Prosopographical information provided an additional basis for examining careers, social backgrounds and relationships.
This methodological triangulation was particularly important in the Amazonian context, where political influence may extend through formal governmental organizations, companies, business associations, unions, professional organizations, families and informal political networks.
Comparative Regional Design
The research used the 12 Integration Regions of Pará as its principal territorial framework.
Two municipalities were selected within each region, producing a comparative design encompassing 24 municipalities. Population and electorate size were among the principal selection criteria, with population receiving greater weight in the selection process.
The design included municipalities from markedly different regional settings, among them mining and resource-based regions, metropolitan areas, historically established settlement zones and territories strongly transformed by migration, infrastructure and more recent economic expansion.
The methodological approach was initially tested in Castanhal and Santa Izabel do Pará, allowing the combination of positional and reputational approaches to be examined and adjusted before the wider comparative research.
The empirical surveys were subsequently conducted. Because the original datasets have not been preserved, the website does not attempt to reconstruct quantitative findings that can no longer be verified against the primary research material.
Political Elites and Regional Development
The project was not limited to identifying who belonged to local political elites.
A second research dimension concerned the worldviews and development perceptions of influential actors.
The research examined how selected members of local elites interpreted:
- the current situation of their municipality;
- its principal development potentials and future perspectives;
- the actors, organizations and institutions capable of promoting local development, influencing political agendas or obstructing particular initiatives.
Career trajectories and family histories were also incorporated into the research design in order to understand how positions of local influence were formed and reproduced.
This connected elite research directly with regional-development research. Political elites were relevant not merely because they occupied privileged social positions, but because their interpretations, organizational relationships and decision-making capacities could influence how regional problems were defined and which development alternatives became politically relevant.
Political Networks, Cohesion and Influence
The research also directed attention beyond individual elite members toward the relationships among influential actors.
Political capacity depends not only on the characteristics of individual actors but also on networks connecting political institutions, economic organizations, public administrations, associations and other forms of organized social activity.
The project therefore considered the internal relationships and degree of cohesion or fragmentation among local elites. Differences and conflicts within an elite could themselves become relevant for political change by creating opportunities for alternative coalitions, agendas and development strategies.
This perspective shifted the analytical focus from a simple catalogue of powerful individuals toward the configuration of positions, relationships and capacities through which local political influence is organized.
Regional Differentiation of Political Elites
A central proposition of the research was that political elites in Pará should be expected to differ between regions because they emerged within different historical and socio-economic trajectories.
Federal development interventions, colonization, migration, mining, agricultural expansion, infrastructure construction, urbanization and the creation of new municipalities transformed local societies in different ways.
These processes generated new economic actors, public organizations, unions, business associations, administrative structures and forms of political representation while modifying or displacing older structures of local power.
Related Follow-up Publication
Farias Filho, M. C., & Mathis, A. (2015). Sobre Elite Política. Papers do NAEA, Paper 350.
This later publication continued the theoretical and methodological discussion of political elites. It is treated here as a related follow-up publication rather than as a confirmed direct project output.
Related Research
Policy, Evaluation & Applied Research →
Research on public policy, organizations, knowledge, political intervention and the possibilities and limitations of deliberate regional intervention.
Amazonia as a Comparative Observation Field →
Amazonia as a field for examining historically heterogeneous regional configurations and differentiated forms of political, economic and organizational transformation.
Mining & Extractive Transformations →
Research on mineral extraction, organizations, political and economic power and the differentiated regional consequences of resource-based development.
Regional Development in World Society →
The current theoretical programme examining how heterogeneous world-societal processes become selectively connected and consequential within historically evolving regional configurations.