Suchergebnisse

As a result of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from the European Union (EU), the environmental governance structure in Brazil has been challenged, bringing to light a legal ambiguity in the ecological obligations between the EU and Brazil. The article hypothesizes that this legal ambiguity is caused by the complex political and legal system that characterizes the Brazilian governance structure. How does the Brazilian federal government, in its role as policymaker, balance its EU trade agenda? Can it be affirmed that the federal government's capacity as policymaker affects the political convergence between Brazil and the EU? This review will explain the mechanisms in the EU legal framework and its institutions regarding trade and the environment in the strategic relationship between the EU and Brazil. It will further analyze the decision-making process of the federal government as it relates to FDI and environmental policy in Brazil. The research design is based on an analysis of the EU legal framework, of Brazilian neoliberal economic strategy and domestic environmental policy, in order to demonstrate the convergence of political discourses from 2000 to 2013. The data indicates that the EU legal framework and the Brazilian domestic environmental policy put pressure on the federal government to take on the role of facilitator. The findings confirm the literature on the EU legal framework and its manipulation of Brazilian environmental policies. This review expands on these findings inasmuch as the Brazilian federal government allows for a convergence of policies and relationships around environmental obligations in trade thereby creating a stopgap for institutions to act toward environmental regulations.

The incorporation of National Public Management (npm) in Brazil has challenged the centralizing role of the national government as a policy creator, due to the npm decentralized structure in implementing administrative policy. The author hypothesizes that the introduction of such a decentralized model into the Brazilian national government creates a contradiction to its traditional centralizing role as a policy creator, and forces it to take on the role of a policy manager. This hypothesis is backed up by a research design that relies on process tracing analysis of primary and secondary sources on Brazilian administrative policy in the npm model, and on documentation of neoliberal pressures from the international community to demonstrate the convergence of political discourse. The following analysis will demonstrate the pressure from these political forces on the Brazilian national government to maintain its political legitimacy. This pressure has led to re-centralization by the state in the domestic administrative policy discourse, while the implementation of the npm model and thereof resulting neoliberal policies introduced by the international community have created an administrative decentralized environment. Consequently, the implementation of the npm model has led to fragmentation domestically and challenged the policy agenda of the national government in the centralization of the decision-making process around fiscal and political agendas, while decentralizing the implementation of administrative policies following the npm model with a neoliberal agenda. These findings suggest a need to examine the role of the national government as "Gatekeeper", particularly in regards to changes toward institutional relationships. ; La introducción del modelo de Gestión Pública Nacional (gnp) en Brasil ha representado un desafío para el carácter centralizador del gobierno nacional, considerando la naturaleza descentralizadora que supone dicho modelo para la implementación de la política administrativa. Este trabajo plantea la hipótesis de que la introducción de un modelo descentralizado en el gobierno brasileño genera una contradicción para el ejercicio de su papel tradicional como creador de políticas centralizadas, lo cual obliga al gobierno de este país a asumir un nuevo rol como administrador de políticas. Esta hipótesis se soporta en un diseño metodológico basado en el análisis del rastreo de proceso de fuentes primarias y secundarias acerca de la política administrativa propuesta así como en documentación sobre la presión neoliberal ejercida por la comunidad internacional para demostrar la convergencia del discurso político. El siguiente análisis demostrará la presión de tales fuerzas políticas sobre el gobierno brasileño para mantener su legitimidad política, lo cual ha llevado a la recentralización del Estado en su discurso sobre la política administrativa nacional. Por otro lado, la adopción del modelo gnp y de las políticas neoliberales introducidas por la comunidad internacional, han propiciado un entorno administrativo de carácter descentralizado. En consecuencia, la implementación del modelo ha conducido a una polarización interna, poniendo en riesgo la agenda política que busca la centralización del proceso de toma de decisiones en torno a asuntos fiscales y de política pública; sin embargo, a su vez, ha generado la descentralización en la adopción de políticas administrativas de base neoliberal. Estos hallazgos demuestran la necesidad de examinar el papel del gobierno nacional como Gatekeeper, particularmente en lo que respecta a cambios en las relaciones institucionales.