Democracy Postponed: A political economy of Brazil’s oligarchic foreign policy (original) (raw)

DESCRIPTION The paper makes five related arguments. First, Brazil’s deepening insertion in the global strategic and political economy has led both to a certain democratization of its foreign policy and to a weaker hold by Itamaraty over policy formulation and implementation. Second, by global standards and in spite of the opening just mentioned, Brazil remains relatively insulated from the vagaries of world affairs. Third, the pressures on Itamaraty’s monopoly resulting from Brazil’s deeper global insertion have been reinforced by the peculiar institutional forms of the country’s engagement. Fourth, the growing technical requirements of international policy-making has forced the generalists that overwhelmingly dominate the Ministry to rely on the expertise of other government departments or even outside think tanks and specialists, further weakening Itamaraty’s monopoly. Fifth, in spite of these structural, institutional and technical pressures, Itamaraty’s hold over foreign policy ...