Does Democratization Alter the Policy Process? Trade Policymaking in Brazil

Reviewing horizontalization: the challenge of analysis in Brazilian foreign policy

“…This decision-making pattern would have been changed around the mid-1980's due to the redemocratization of the country, and especially during the 1990's, with the impact of globalization (Armijo and Kearney 2008). Faria, Lopes and Casarões (2013, 4), in this regard, sustain that "the pluralization of societal and bureaucratic agents with an interest and a stake in Brazil´s international politics come up, therefore, as the most sensitive exogenous movements against the alleged monopoly Itamaraty enjoys over foreign policy-making".…”

“…On foreign trade, the arguments are quite similar. According to Armijo andKearney (2008 1012), trade policymaking process, "despite now being de facto overseen by the famously aristocratic and aloof Foreign Ministry [Itamaraty], is notably more transparent and widely consultative than in several decades".…”

“…Generally, these studies conclude that following the general trend of democratization in the political regimes, there was a broader pluralism in the foreign policy arena -a process in which the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Itamaraty) lost some of its power. In Brazil, besides the term horizontalization (França and Badin 2010;Campos Lima 2012), scholars use terms like "decentralization" (Spécie 2008) "pluralization" (Cason and Power 2009), "decapsuling" (Faria 2008), "politicization", "democratization" (Armijo and Kearney 2008), "power shift" (Vieira 2013) and "diversification of interests" (Milani and Pinheiro 2012) to characterize what they consider to be the current situation, in contrast to an earlier period, when the decision-making process would have been characterized by insulation or verticalization. To justify the policy change, these studies project a past quite different from the current situation.…”

Courting the South: Lula’s Trade Diplomacy

“…Moreover, the increasing salience of trade-related issues in Brazil's foreign relations since the 1980s, when the country initiated a process of modest trade liberalization, underscores the need for better understanding of the factors affecting trade diplomacy (Armijo and Kearney 2008).…”

“…However, studies focusing specifically on its approach to international trade negotiations are few in number and not very current (Veiga 2005;. Despite its importance, trade diplomacy has generally been addressed only as part of broader analyses, either of Lula's foreign policy or of the longer-term evolution of Brazilian trade policy, including both international negotiations and other aspects (Veiga 2007(Veiga , 2009Armijo and Kearney, 2008;Moreira 2009). …”