In pursuit of order: A study in Brazilian centralization, the Section of Empire of the Council of State, 1842-188

The institution of the Council of State during the reign of Dom Pedro II played an important part in the restoration of law and order in the aftermath of the chaotic Regency period and in molding the Brazilian state during the nineteenth century. Administrative and political centralization were two of the measures adopted to meet the challenges of centrifugal forces impelling toward territorial fragmentation and the weak institutionalization of central authority.;This dissertation argues that the Council of State was the institutional mechanism created to implement administrative and political centralization. The thesis is argued through the analysis of the works of one of the four Sections in which the Council was divided, the Section of Empire. The analysis focuses on four major variables: the type of elite that composed the Council, and therefore the Section; the several roles performed by its members and the relationship between these roles and the restoration of law and order; the relationship between the Section, the Ministers, and the Emperor; and the capacity of the institution for change.;The membership of the Council of State formed an unique elite. Composed of men who had life tenure, had political power, exercised political leadership, and formed the administrative elite of the country. The functions of this elite were designed to rebuild the power and the prerogatives of the central government, the Executive. The restoration of authority, of law and order, was accomplished through the strengthening of this power using the symbol of authority embodied in the Emperor, and by this elite's ability to reach consensus.;The success of the mechanism used in 1842 to restore authority in the aftermath of the chaotic Regency is demonstrated by the manner in which the reign of Dom Pedro II is portrayed in history: peace, political stability, and administrative centralization.;But change was also unavoidable. In this structure it meant decentralization. Contrary to long assumed beliefs the system devised in 1842 was capable of change, although slowly. Some steps were taken in this direction much earlier than expected; others, taken at the end of the Empire, foretold a change of immense consequences for the political system.