Reviewing horizontalization: the challenge of analysis in Brazilian foreign policy

Abstract

This article presents the increasing demands over the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Itamaraty) for opening its doors to other actors. This discussion will be followed by relevant theoretical and methodological analysis. We will defend the need to overcome problems related to: 1) conceptual vagueness about what the concept of participation means; 2) lack of clarity in the baseline to which comparisons are made; 3) fragile empirical basis; 4) limitations on the use of sources; and 5) how to understand the impact exerted by systemic forces.

Do Concepts Matter? Latin America and South America in the Discourse of Brazilian Foreign Policymakers

“…In this article, we defend axiological neutrality 4 , the strength of arguments constructed from facts and logical reasoning, and the importance of replicability, falsi iability, and validity in research designs (WENDT, 1999). So, for the purposes of this paper, the irst step toward establishing these elements is to clarify what we mean by discourses, conceptual frameworks, and regions in foreign policy analysis (FARIAS and RAMANZINI JR., 2015;KING, KEOHANE, and VERBA, 1994).…”

Exploring Brazilian foreign policy towards women: dimensions, outcomes, actors and influences

“…The article also provides input to the debate among analysts of Brazilian foreign policy regarding the extent of the increase of openness in the government and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Itamaraty) to the influence of civil society actors after redemocratization (França and Sanchez Badin 2010;Cason and Power 2009;Pinheiro and Milani 2012;Farias and Ramanzini Jr. 2015). According to the prevailing point of view, since the adoption of the 1988 Constitution, Brazilian foreign policy has been more pluralistic, participatory, and hence more democratic, with new stakeholders contributing to its formulation along with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Cason and Power 2009).…”

“…In addition, practically all bodies within the executive branch (especially ministries and secretariats under the Presidential Cabinet) have some degree of competence to act on an international level (França and Sanchez Badin 2010). Nevertheless, questions have been raised as to the extent of this "horizontalization" and the need to distinguish influence from mere participation (Farias and Ramanzini Jr. 2015). Indeed, analyses of specific areas (Pomeroy 2016;Santoro and Borges 2017;Duarte and Lima 2017) show major differences among them.…”

Brazil's South–South development cooperation: Principles and experiences of the domestic bureaucracy

“…There is a rich literature (albeit mostly in Portuguese) on Brazilian foreign policymaking and provision of development assistance. Much of this work examine the roles played by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, diplomats, the Brazilian Cooperation Agency ( Agência Brasileira de Cooperação —ABC), and the Presidency (Burges, ; Burges & Chagas Bastos, ; Faria, ; Farias & Ramanzini Jr, ; Leite, Suyama, & Waisbich, ; Lopes, ; Milani & Pinheiro, , ; Puente, ). The present article builds upon and adds to the existing literature by (a) looking at federal civil servants working with the operational side of technical cooperation provision, and (b) relying on an original dataset for its empirical analysis.…”