Policy ambassadors: human agency in the transnationalization of Brazilian social policies

Abstract

In the past decade, Brazil became a model for social policies, 'exporting' ideas and techniques to tackle issues on social participation, poverty and hunger mostly to Southern countries, but also to the Northern States. International policy diffusion is immersed in a complex web of relations established among a plethora of actors participating in various moments and spaces. How policies become models for exporting? Why Brazil was elected as a showcase for social policies? Which actors were engaged in this process? The literature presents different arguments that focus on international organizations, think-tanks, epistemic communities, private agents, networks and so on to explain how policy models travel from a place to another. In this study, the action of exporting elites and their circulation between various institutions are put under analysis to understand diffusion. We introduce in this article a new concept of 'Policy Ambassador', a transnational transfer agent, to explain the diffusion of Brazilian social policy ideas and instruments in the areas of participatory democracy, fight against poverty and hunger eradication.

Diffusion of Brazil’s food policies in international organisations: assessing the processes of knowledge framing

“…This support was reaffirmed during his re-election campaign in 2015 (CPLP, 2014a). A former member of the Ministry of Social Development in Brazil and regional representative of the FAO, and a leader of the Zero Hunger strategy, Graziano displayed wide political and intellectual authority in food policies (Porto de Oliveira, 2019).…”

Brazil Exporting Social Policies: From Local Innovation to a Global Model

“…As argued in a previous work, an important moment for the emergence of social policy innovations in Brazil was the enactment of the Constitution in 1988, which can be considered an institutional tipping-point as well as the country's transition to democracy (Porto de Oliveira, 2019). t democratic scenario opened the door to emerging political groups armed with progressive ideas to not only to run elections but also to participate in the public policy debate.…”

“…Political authorities in local governments also benefitted from the increase of autonomy offered by the new Constitution, which facilitated local experimentation and innovations in public policies. A portion of the social policies that Lula implemented during his administration was a combination and adaptation of practices already put into effect on a local level, as well as adaptations of programs developed by previous governments on the national level, together with the implementation of ideas proposed by academia, especially the Universities of São Paulo and Campinas (Porto de Oliveira, 2019).…”

Articulação de agendas governamentais: política externa e políticas de combate à fome e à pobreza nos governos Lula

“…A construção do arcabouço teórico inclui também os estudos a respeito da difusão internacional de políticas públicas, de forma a entender melhor o processo pelo qual passaram as políticas sociais do MDS e que, de modo geral, permitiu a configuração de uma plataforma de exportação de políticas sociais no período estudado. Os estudos sobre difusão, circulação e transferência de políticas públicas vem crescendo exponencialmente nos últimos anos, e suas fronteiras vêm se expandindo, em especial no contexto latino americano (PORTO DE OLIVEIRA; PAL, 2017; PORTO DE OLIVEIRA et al, 2020). São inúmeras as abordagens desenvolvidas para tratar deste fenômeno, já que o processo de difusão de políticas públicas envolve diversos mecanismos 9 que atuam em um canal de troca de aprendizados no meio internacional e que contribui para o movimento dessas políticas a nível mundial.…”

“…O presente trabalho não tem a pretensão de analisar de que forma se deu o processo multidirecional de difusão das políticas sociais de maneira a categorizá-la dentro de uma destas definições e, por isso, o termo difusão será utilizado de forma a circunscrever processos de transferência, circulação, difusão e aprendizagem (lesson drawing) que compõem essa área de estudo das Ciências Sociais (FARAH, 2008;FARIA, 2012;PERES, 2013;PORTO DE OLIVEIRA, 2013;PORTO DE OLIVEIRA et al, 2020).…”