A useful compendium of papers presented during a year-long policy research project at the LBJ School, this volume examines Brazil's transition during the 1980s from authoritarian to democratic government, and argues that the choices and policies of the former military regime largely constrain the options for the "New Republic." Individual chapters focus on health, housing and urban policies, labor, export promotion, local and state government, congressional-executive relations, and social and economic policy and their effects on democratic consolidation. One limit of the book is that no biographical information is provided on its 15 contributors.