Natasha Borges Sugiyama is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she also serves as the Interim Director of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS). She is author of Diffusion of Good Governance: Social Sector Reforms in Brazil (University of Notre Dame Press, 2012). Her articles on social policy, policy diffusion, Brazilian politics, and human development have appeared in some of the following journals: Comparative Politics, Comparative Political Studies, Journal of Development Studies, Latin American Research Review, Latin American Politics and Society, Perspectives on Politics, and Publius: The Journal of Federalism. Her current research examines democratic pathways to improvements in well being.

Abstract:

Making the Newest Citizens: Achieving Universal Birth Registration in Contemporary Brazil

Identity documentation is essential to secure the rights, benefits, and services that modern states provide. Historically, significant numbers of poor Brazilians lacked core documents, beginning with a birth certificate. In recent years the government has conducted a campaign to rectify this situation. We explore why the state left so many Brazilians without a birth certificate previously and why it became intent on registering all births, as reflected in recent efforts to facilitate the process. Key in this regard is the movement from a social policy orientation that excluded poor Brazilians in the informal sector to one aimed at including them.