The Edelstein Center for Social Research is a Brazilian

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

based in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

, that: 1) promotes

research Research is " creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...

and

publication To publish is to make content available to the general public.Berne Conve ...

s designed to improve

public policies Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. Public p ...

and institutions to enhance

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which people, the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation ("direct democracy"), or to choo ...

and

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, Equal opportunity, opportunities, and Social privilege, privileges within a society. In Western Civilization, Western and Culture of Asia, Asian cultures, the concept of social ...

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

; 2) fosters the dialogue between

social actor In social science, agency is the capacity of individuals to have the power and resources to fulfill their potential. For instance, structure consists of those factors of influence (such as social class, religion, gender, ethnicity, ability, custo ...

s and knowledge producers to disseminate internationally Latin American

social sciences Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of so ...

production and research institutions; 3) develops free access virtual libraries,

data bank In database management and information architecture, a data bank or databank is a repository of information about one or more subjects, that is, a database which is organized in a way that facilitates local or remote information retrieval and is abl ...

s and the translation of Latin American

social research Social research is a research conducted by social scientists following a systematic plan. Social research methodologies can be classified as quantitative and qualitative. * Quantitative designs approach social phenomena through quantifiable ...

works into English.

History and staff

The Edelstein Center was established in 2004, by Joel Edelstein, a USA citizen living in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. From its inception is directed by

Bernardo Sorj Bernardo Sorj (born September 1948, Montevideo, Uruguay) is a Brazilian social scientist, retired professor of Sociology at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He is Director of The Edelstein Center for Social Research and of the ''Platafor ...

and the Board of Advisors includes

Adama Samassékou Adama Samassékou from Mali is the current president, with ministerial rank, of the African Academy of Languages. Born in 1946 in Mali, he served between July 2002 and December 2003 as the President of the PrepCom of the Geneva phase of thWorld S ...

(Mali), Angelina Peralva (France), Daniel Pécaut (France), Giorgio Alberti (Italy),

Guillermo O'Donnell Guillermo Alberto O'Donnell Ure (February 24, 1936 – November 29, 2011) was a prominent Argentine political scientist, specializing in comparative politics, who spent most of his career working in Argentina and the United States, and who m ...

(in memoriam, Argentina),

Jean-Michel Blanquer Jean-Michel Blanquer (; born 4 December 1964) is a French jurist and government official serving as Minister of National Education under Prime Ministers Édouard Philippe and Jean Castex from 2017 to 2022. Education and early career Born in ...

(France)

Julio Cotler Julio Cotler (12 April 1932 – 5 April 2019) was a Peruvian anthropologist, sociologist and political scientist. He was director of the Institute of Peruvian Studies and professor at the National University of San Marcos. Biography He studied ...

(Peru), Sérgio Costa (Germany), Shepard Forman (United States) and

Simon Schwartzman Simon Schwartzman (born July 1939 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil) is a Brazilian social scientist. He has published extensively, with many books, book chapters and academic articles in the areas of comparative politics, sociology of science, social po ...

(Brazil). In 2007, in association with the Instituto

Fernando Henrique Cardoso Fernando Henrique Cardoso (; born 18 June 1931), also known by his initials FHC (), is a Brazilian sociologist, professor and politician who served as the 34th president of Brazil from 1 January 1995 to 31 December 2002. He was the first Brazi ...

founded the ''Democratic Platform Project''. In 2009-2010, the Edelstein Center was one of the sponsors of the Latin American Initiative on Drugs and Democracy. The other organizations were Instituto

and the

Open Society Institute Open Society Foundations (OSF), formerly the Open Society Institute, is a grantmaking network founded and chaired by business magnate George Soros. Open Society Foundations financially supports civil society groups around the world, with a st ...

. In 2010-2011, the Edelstein Center was part of the secretariat of the Global Commission on Drug Policy.

Programs

The Information Society in Latin America This research program concentrates on the impact of new

information and communications technology Information and communications technology (ICT) is an extensional term for information technology (IT) that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications ( telephone lines and wireless signals) and computer ...

on the transformation of

's education system, public space and democratic life. Recently the Edelstein Center has completed a research on the use of computers and

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

by public school teachers in

. The study indicates that even when they have a positive impact, they cannot be separated from the educational and human context. A comprehensive policy needs to properly training teachers, in particular confronting the difficulties of the older generation, use monitored software, and adequate maintaining the physical infrastructural and technical support for school computer labs. Civil Society and Globalization Agendas The ''Civil Society and Globalization Agendas'' research program focuses on the current changes in

’s

civil society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which people, the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation ("direct democracy"), or to choo ...

during the period of

military dictatorships A military dictatorship is a dictatorship in which the military exerts complete or substantial control over political authority, and the dictator is often a high-ranked military officer. The reverse situation is to have civilian control of the m ...

. However, more recently, civil society organizations have expanded and changed profoundly. While continuing to play an important role in the defense of

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

, in many countries civil society has become a vehicle for political parties, individual politicians, unions and social movements to channel public funds for their own benefit and/or political cooptation. Virtual Libraries
The Edelstein Center Virtual Library of Human Sciences
' develops and offers

free access Free may refer to: Concept * Freedom, having the ability to do something, without having to obey anyone/anything * Freethought, a position that beliefs should be formed only on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism * Emancipate, to proc ...

to a set of virtual libraries with 55.000 titles in constant expansion. The virtual library includes: 1
Brazilian Books
which makes freely available re-editions of books already published by Brazilian authors or residents, in Portuguese as well as other languages, with 220 titles. 2
The Information Society Library
with more than 30.000 academic texts about the

information society An information society is a society where the usage, creation, distribution, manipulation and integration of information is a significant activity. Its main drivers are information and communication technologies, which have resulted in rapid inf ...

. 3
SciELO Social Sciences English Edition
in partnerships with SciELO contains 30 journals from

and other

n countries translated into English. 4
Plataforma Democrática Virtual Library
with 15.000 academic texts on

. Democratic Platform
''Plataforma Democrática''
is a joint initiative of the Edelstein Center and the Instituto

devoted to strengthening Latin American democratic institutions and

culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups ...

by fostering pluralistic debate on the social and political transformations of the region and the world. ''Plataforma Democrática'' includes 21 associated institutions in

. Its current areas of

and policy papers are: a) ''Global Geopolitical Transformations and Latina America Democracies''; and b) ''Media and Democracy''. ''Plataforma Democrática'' site's includes a virtual library of

with 15.000 academic titles, more than hundred original papers and the book series ''The State of Democracy in Latin America''. Other activities The Edelstein Center did participated in the Secretariat of the Latin American Initiative on Drugs and Democracy. and of the Global Commission on Drug Policy.

Select Publications

Books & e-Books SORJ, Bernardo (comp.)
''Democracia y Medios de Comunicación. Más allá del Estado y el Mercado''
Buenos Aires: Catálogos S.L.R, 2012. SORJ, Bernardo FAUSTO, Sergio (comps.)
''América Latina: Transformaciones geopolíticas y democracia''
Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI, 2011. SORJ, Bernardo FAUSTO, Sergio (comps.)
''Brasil y América del Sur: Miradas Cruzadas''
Buenos Aires: Catálogos S.L.R., 2011. O'DONNELL, Guillermo
''Democracia, agência e Estado. Teoria com intenção comparativa''
Rio de Janeiro: Paz e Terra, 2011. SERBIN, Andrés
''Chávez, Venezuela y la reconfiguración política de América Latina y el Caribe''
Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI Editora Iberoamericana, 2011. FAUSTO, Sérgio (comp.)
''Difícil democracia''
Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI, 2010. HILB, Claudia
''Silêncio, Cuba: a esquerda democrática diante do regime da Revolução Cubana''
São Paulo: Paz e Terra, 2010. PÉCAUT, Daniel
''As FARC: uma guerrilha sem fins?''
São Paulo: Paz e Terra, 2010. SORJ, B. (comp.)
''Poder político y medios de comunicación - De la representación política al reality show''
Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI, 2010. SORJ, B. (org.)
''Usos, abusos y desafíos de la sociedad civil en América Latina''
Buenos Aires: Siglo XX, 2010. SORJ, Bernardo MARTUCCELLI, Danilo
''The Latin American Challenge: Social Cohesion and Democracy''
São Paulo: Instituto Fernando Henrique Cardoso / Rio de Janeiro: The Edelstein Center for Social Research, 2008. SORJ, Bernardo
''Information Societies and Digital Divides: an Introduction''
Milano: Polimetrica. Rio de Janeiro: The Edelstein Center for Social Research, 2008. SORJ, Bernardo
''Latin America's Elusive Democracies''
Rio de Janeiro: The Edelstein Center for Social Research, E-book Series 2, 2007. SORJ, Bernardo OLIVEIRA, Miguel Darcy (Ed)
''Sociedad Civil y Democracia en América Latina: crisis y reinvención de la política''
Rio de Janeiro: Centro Edelstein de Investigaciones Sociales São Paulo: iFHC, 2007. REMOLD, Julie
''Educational Technologies and Social Inequality in Brazilian Public Schools''
Rio de Janeiro: The Edelstein Center for Social Research, Série E-book 1, 2006. Working Papers SORJ, Bernardo; LISSOVSKY, Mauricio
''Internet in Brazilian Public Schools: Policies beyond Politics''
Rio de Janeiro: The Edelstein Center for Social Research, Working Paper 6, May 2011. MILANI, Carlos R. S.; LANIADO, Ruthy Nadia
''Transnational Social Movements and the Globalisation Agenda: a Methodological Approach Based on the Analysis of the World Social Forum''
Rio de Janeiro: The Edelstein Center for Social Research, Working Paper 5, 2006. RIBEIRO, Gustavo Lins
''Other Globalizations: Alter-Native Transnational Processes and Agents''
Rio de Janeiro: The Edelstein Center for Social Research, Working Paper 4, 2006. WILKINSON, John
''Fair Trade Moves Centre Stage''
Rio de Janeiro: The Edelstein Center for Social Research, Working Paper 3, 2006. SORJ, Bernardo
''Internet, Public Sphere and Political Marketing: Between the Promotion of Communication and Moralist Solipsism''
Rio de Janeiro: The Edelstein Center for Social Research, Working Paper 2, 2006. SORJ, Bernardo
''Civil Societies North-South Relations: NGOs and Dependency''
Rio de Janeiro: The Edelstein Center for Social Research, Working Paper 1, 2005. Internet Research Resources Zina Angelica Caceres Benavides
''Report 2: Civil Society and Fair Trade''
September, 2006. Dayse Marie Oliveira
''Report 1: Civil Society and NGOs''
November 2005.

References

External links

The Edelstein Center for Social Research

Plataforma Democrática

SciELO Social Sciences English Edition

The Virtual Library of Social Sciences

Latin American Initiative on Drugs and Democracy

The Global Commission on Drugs Policy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edelstein Center for Social Research Social science institutes Latin American studies Research institutes in Brazil Think tanks based in Brazil