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This article discusses the role of think tanks in the production of ideas guiding recent change in Brazil's economic policy. It claims that think tanks are significant policy-making agents preparing the society for change – via their communicative discourse – but also attempting to influence the interaction between political elites – via their coordinative discourse. The polarization of think tanks' communicative discourse in regard to austerity during two critical junctures for Brazil is analysed. Discursive institutionalism is applied in order to interpret data from four Brazilian think tanks: the Institute of Applied Economic Research, the Inter-Union Department of Statistics and Socioeconomic Studies, the Fernand Braudel Institute and the Brazilian Institute of Economy. These think tanks have very different organizational and ideological characteristics but a polarization of the discussion around austerity can be observed in the discourse of all four of them. The scale ranges from an active defence of the Brazilian development model to a full-scale endorsement of austerity.

International audience ; This chapter aims to assess how the Brexit process may have affected the perceptions of the EU by Brazilian political, intellectual and entrepreneurial elites, as well as by the mainstream online and print media. Speeches and reports are collected from the Brazilian government's official websites, while media content is obtained through the Nexis database. The analysis is supported by semi-structured interviews with diplomatic officials in London and Brussels. Particular attention is paid to the following dimensions due to their saliency in the Brazil–EU agenda: economic/trade; migration/development; and political/security. Preliminary results suggest that Brazilian narratives of the EU are linked to the benefits of regionalism and the perception of the EU as a global (trade) power. Results contribute to a better understanding of how Brexit is reported to Brazilian audiences, and which narratives about the "new EU-27" are either reinforced or deconstructed due to the UK's decision to leave the Union. The working hypothesis – that Brexit has not significantly changed the perception of the EU among Brazilian elites and media apart from the trade aspects – is by and large confirmed.

International audience ; This chapter aims to assess how the Brexit process may have affected the perceptions of the EU by Brazilian political, intellectual and entrepreneurial elites, as well as by the mainstream online and print media. Speeches and reports are collected from the Brazilian government's official websites, while media content is obtained through the Nexis database. The analysis is supported by semi-structured interviews with diplomatic officials in London and Brussels. Particular attention is paid to the following dimensions due to their saliency in the Brazil–EU agenda: economic/trade; migration/development; and political/security. Preliminary results suggest that Brazilian narratives of the EU are linked to the benefits of regionalism and the perception of the EU as a global (trade) power. Results contribute to a better understanding of how Brexit is reported to Brazilian audiences, and which narratives about the "new EU-27" are either reinforced or deconstructed due to the UK's decision to leave the Union. The working hypothesis – that Brexit has not significantly changed the perception of the EU among Brazilian elites and media apart from the trade aspects – is by and large confirmed.