Over 60% of the Amazon basin is contained within nine federal Brazilian states. How transparent are state‐level governments about implementing and enforcing deforestation reduction policies? Advocates and officials can only influence forest conservation outcomes to the extent that they have information about the actions – the inputs and outputs – of front‐line local actors. Leveraging a recently adopted freedom of information (FOI) law, this paper evaluates how well governments comply with website‐based disclosure requirements (active transparency), and how effectively they respond to FOI requests (passive transparency) on the implementation and enforcement of deforestation reduction policies. By focusing on how subnational administrations disclose accountings of forest governance – the inputs and outputs of governance – the current study complements an already extensive body of scholarship on central government monitoring of forest cover – the transparency of outcomes. Comparing our results with an original database of transparency evaluations from Brazil, we find extremely low levels of compliance with FOI obligations. We do find, however, that government agencies possessing electronic FOI platforms, which help applicants send requests and appeals and accompany responses, fare better than those without. This and other findings have implications for the design of transparency systems, while global results speak to the policy challenges of federalism, especially dilemmas of subnational policy enforcement. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

RESUMO:Após mais de uma década de redução do desmatamento na Amazônia -relacionada a um conjunto de esforços públicos e da sociedade, destacando-se o Plano de Ação para Prevenção e Controle do Desmatamento na Amazônia Legal (PPCDAm) -esta trajetória passa a apresentar sinais de crescimento. Assim, é importante avaliar os resultados das políticas públicas responsáveis pela redução do desmatamento, permitindo focalizar e adaptar aquelas que lograram êxito. Umas das políticas relevantes no âmbito do PPCDAm, que trouxe implicações para a gestão ambiental compartilhada, é a priorização de municípios para focalização de ações relativas à prevenção, monitoramento e controle de desmatamento no Bioma Amazônia, instituída pelo Decreto Nº 6.321/2007. O presente trabalho, de caráter interdisciplinar, busca avaliar os resultados desta política. Foi realizada pesquisa de caráter qualitativo e quantitativo abrangendo (i) pesquisa bibliográfica em documentos oficiais e literatura disponível e (ii) análise do desmatamento municipal. Verificou-se que a política teve resultados mais significativos na redução do desmatamento nos seus primeiros anos, tendo influenciado a criação de políticas de regularização ambiental e de incentivo à governança ambiental local. Entretanto, com o passar dos anos, a política deixa de apresentar eficácia. Este desempenho parece relacionarse com a redução das ações executadas e com a demora na atualização da lista de municípios priorizados. O atual contexto demanda um esforço de reformulação da política. A atualização da lista em 2017 traz

This study presents an educational performance assessment of Brazilian state-level units using the technique for order preference by similarity to the ideal solution (TOPSIS). Although this technique is a well-established multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) model that can be applied across diverse areas, it has yet to be applied to an analysis of primary and secondary education. We assess how state-level units in Brazil perform in terms of primary and secondary educational inputs and outputs during the period from 2013 to 2017. We handle epistemic uncertainty with regard to weight definition using maximal information entropy. Additionally, a Tobit regression approach on performance scores is developed. Results show that region of the country plays an important role in determining educational performance. Moreover, results indicate that gross domestic product (GDP) is positively related to education scores while infant mortality is negatively associated with educational performance.

This article aims at understanding how research on acceptance and resistance to e-learning in developing countries is undertaken. To do so, it performs a systematic literature review of articles from 2007 to 2019. As a result, 44 analyzed studies have shown the evolvement of e-learning acceptance literature in developing countries in the last decade, mainly grounded on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) framework, with minor use of Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and critical success factors perspective. None of the reviewed studies used an explicit framework of resistance to adoption. Also, most of the applications of TAM and UTAUT did not explore the specificities of developing countries in the acceptance of e-learning. Furthermore, the review has found a concentration of studies focusing on students, Higher Education, and developing countries with the highest income levels.