Brazilian cooperation for international development 2010

2023

The main goal of the article is the analysis of primary data from the Brazilian International Development Cooperation (Cooperação Brasileira para o Desenvolvimento Internacional-Cobradi). It characterizes the Brazilian participation in the International Development Cooperation (IDC) agenda based on the implementation of the country's cooperation for other developing countries. Relying on data from the Cobradi research gathered by the Institute for Applied Economic Research (Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada-Ipea) since 2010 and by the Development Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (DAC/OECD), the article identifies four characteristics of the Brazilian IDC since 2005: over-representation, ambivalence, decentralization and instrumentalism. Although the article focuses essentially on identifying regularities and trends, it is inevitable to conclude that Brazil needs a more integrated IDC management system, as well as a framework to assess the impacts of public investment on this agenda, particularly the country's contributions to international institutions.

The international development cooperation architecture has changed dramatically over the last decade. The global context, characterised by a lingering financial crisis and the emergence of new powers, has brought South–South Development Cooperation (SSDC) to the core of international development debate. The growing influence of emerging countries, such as the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), as development cooperation providers requires a deeper understanding of how and to what extent these countries are promoting sustainable and inclusive development by cooperating with partners in the global South. To be able to answer these questions, the national dynamics need to be unpacked by mapping institutions, ideas, and interests informing decision-making processes, and shaping, not only policy priorities, but also the effectiveness of development cooperation. Brazil is in the spotlight and Brazilian cooperation, in all its different modalities (from technical, scientific and technological, educational, and humanitarian cooperation to contributions to international organisations, refugee support and protection, and peace operations), has risen to unprecedented levels in recent years. According to official data, Brazilian development cooperation increased from US$160 million in 2005 to more than US$900 million in 2010. In that period, the country’s technical cooperation disbursements grew almost fourfold and its humanitarian cooperation expanded from less than half a million dollars in 2005 to US$161 million in 2010. However, interviews and the current budget freeze on the Brazilian Cooperation Agency’s (ABC) activities indicate that the upward trend may have changed in the last three years.

The Institutional Architecture of Support to Civil Society Organizations in Brazil, 2014

This paper will comment on the results of the study on ‘international cooperation’ by first providing a brief overview of the changing international context in which we should be analyzing these research findings. To understand this global context better, I will identify a set of trends currently present in debates on global politics and international cooperation. These developments also have implications for international donor NGOs, which I will discuss in the second part of this paper. The third section explores what this all implies for Brazilian civil society organizations, and how the so-called ‘withdrawal’ is affecting their future perspectives. I will finalize with a couple of suggestions on potential future challenges for Brazilian civil society organizations in the current setting.

2014

This work challenges the Brazilian official discourse on international development cooperation with the role that the government and other actors, such as business and civil society, play in this policy. The research aims to identify the real interests of Brazil in its strategy of cooperation and examine whether the insertion of Brazilian reality is less self-interest, as it is officially stated by Brazilian Foreign Ministry.

Theme: The media, analysts and markets have focused a great deal of attention on the consolidation of Brazil as an emerging power, mainly in the economic and global governance spheres. However, there is little information and few studies on aid and cooperation as an instrument of Brazilian foreign policy or on Brazil's role in the new architecture of aid, despite its increasing presence in Africa and its leading role in debates on international development..

Revista Brasileira de Estudos Africanos, 2017

WEA Commentaries, 2021

A publication of the World Economics Association. To plurality. The Association will encourage the free exploration of economic reality from any perspective that adds to the sum of our understanding. To this end it advocates plurality of thought, method and philosophy.

Austral: Brazilian Journal of Strategy and International Relations, 2020

A stakeholder/policy position paper should accurately put forward a critical analysis of a particular issue that affects policy and decision makers. This is a stakeholder position paper on the future of International Development Cooperation from the perspective of a non-DAC Donor (Brazil). Some questions I am interested in are: what motivates non-DAC donors such as Brazil? What interests do non-DAC donors like Brazil promote? Is the development profile of non-DAC donors like Brazil different to that of traditional states?

Journal of Social Science for Policy Implications, 2015

International Cooperation for Development has taken on specific importance in scientific research. Many studies can now be found. Generally speaking, these analyses have attempted not only to explain the historical/institutional and strategic development but also to provide the basis for deliberations on a long line of ideas, values and practices which have now been mapped out, with a focus also on the results in terms of partner countries. Portuguese Cooperation is no exception and, in a general way, all the published material where this cooperation is seen in context refers directly or indirectly to the overall values that govern its activities. There are, however, no studies that identify the individual values that serve as a point of reference for the work of those involved in Cooperation in terms of its practices for choosing, managing and assessing projects. In this article we aim to turn the spotlight on the values considered to be the guiding principles underpinning the actions of the individuals involved in Portuguese Cooperation.

Tensões Mundiais, 2016

This study aimed at making a critical assessment of the actions of Brazil facing the challenges for the maintenance of the ZPCAS. Research focused on the investigation of documents that dealt with the purposes of this regional integration, as speeches of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the minutes of the Ministerial Meetings of ZPCAS, the National Defense Strategy and the news on the subject. It came to the conclusion that military and technical cooperation and investment policies are inseparable elements for the consolidation of Brazil as a regional leader.

Brasiliana Journal For Brazilian Studies, 2015

Development in Practice, 2004

Studies on Brazilian Foreign Policy tend to interpret Brazilian “international insertion” as participatory, strategic, to be part of the international system as an aggrandizement sign of the Brazilian international policy, particularly as part of a political and diplomatic agenda. Here we call this a “traditionalist” perception of the term. However, we believe that there are other aspects of “international insertion” that are not taken into account, such as the international insertion of the Brazilian civil society actors (companies, NGOs, etc.) and even the afflux of illicit products, transnational trafficking of drugs and people, as examples of transnational crime growth. Having this in sight, we will focus in this chapter on a specific aspect of international insertion of Brazil, which in a way corresponds to that traditionalist perception, namely, the Brazilian international insertion in the military aspect, defense and international security, with focus on participation of Brazilian military forces in UN Peacekeeping Operations (PKOs). In this sense, from the 1990s, Brazil went through a process of intensification of their participation in the international system in various agendas and by various national actors. With the creation of the Ministry of Defense (MD), the initiation of a national defense agenda more complete and objective has been established, so that the institution contributed incisively, in partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), on the agenda of international peace and security. Thus, Brazil has emerged as a more participatory international player, contributing to peace operations Brazil’s International Insertion in the military aspect, defense and international security: The Brazilian Ministry of Defense, its armed forces in UN peacekeeping operations and the case of Haiti promoted by the UN. Some modern-day examples will be analyzed to show the Brazilian pro-active role in this regard, as: 1) Haiti with MINUSTAH, since 2004; 2) Lebanon with UNIFIL since 2010; 3)Democratic Republic of the Congo with MONUSCO since 2013. The Haitian case is the most emblematic of these three, once Brazil’s involvement implies not only the largest mobilization of troops since the Second World War, but also the emergence of a series of synergies and exchanges between the armed forces and the Brazilian police, with implications of this engagement in Brazil’s own national territory.