Control and use of information: power and domination strategies of group lead by Antonio Carlos Magalhães (1985-2006).

by de Azevedo, Clarissa Maria

The control and use of information is one of the strategies used by the political group lead by Antonio Carlos Magalhães, in the last 21 years, sustain its leadership in the state. This model, which had its efficiency proved during the Industrial Society, began to be questioned from 2000 onward with the dissemination of new information and communication technologies and the consolidation of new paradigms. Considering this context, this dissertation aimed at twoobjectives. The first one consisted in the identification and analysis of the forms and ways used by this political group to control, treat and disseminate political information throughoutthe state of Bahia. The second objective aimed at verifying how the so called technology revolution impacts on the efficiency of this political strategy. This research draws on thetheory of Information Regime. The period studied begins in 1985, when all Brazilian states started to adapt to new paradigms, till the year 2006, when the impact of new information and communication technologies on the political structure could be better dimensioned. In this context, beyond the empirical analysis of the model of information used by that political group, this research examines also the political and legal aspects of the management of thepublic information by on the state government, under the command at that group and its intersections with others political institutions. The study was developed into six distinctive and completing phases: 1) Revision of Information Science, Political Science and Communication studies literature, define of the theoretical reference and the conceptual approach; 2) Historical analysis of the social, political, economic and cultural contexts on which the relation between information and the political power of Antonio Carlos Magalhães group was established; 3) Analysis of the preferential ways that group used to from of information to people ; 4) Analysis of the control, treatment and utilization of information that from to maintain hegemony; 5) Analysis of the utilization of new medias by the group, evaluation of the impact of these medias in the nature of the political power and its contribution to the end of that political hegemony; 6) conclusion of this study. The results suggest that the informational model represented by that political group has expired and show the impact of new information and communication technologies had on that.