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Begin New Search Political Geography Brazil Publication Year within 25 Years

291. Complementarity and dependency in the Energy sector and the transition to a low-carbon economy

Author:
Clarissa Lins, Izabella Teixeira, Adilson de Oliveira, Ricardo Besada, and Zhou Xizhou
Publication Date:
04-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Brazilian Center for International Relations (CEBRI)
Abstract:
At its sixth meeting, CEBRI’s China Analysis Group Meeting promoted a wide-ranging debate on the opportunities and challenges emerging for China and Brazil by the new geopolitics of carbon and the ongoing energy transition – characterized, among other trends, by falling costs of renewable sources and by the rise of natural gas as a strategic transition fuel. In this context, participants highlighted the merger between the agendas of energy security and sustainable development worldwide, with implications for both policymaking and investment priorities – since the energy sector accounts for approximately a third of total greenhouse gas emissions globally.
Topic:
Climate Change, Development, Energy Policy, Economy, and Carbon Emissions
Political Geography:
China, Asia, Brazil, and South America

292. The Belt and Road Initiative: views from Brazil and other partners

Author:
Anna Jaguaribe, Benoni Belli, Tatiana Rosito, Carsten Hasbach, and Tobias Dennehy
Publication Date:
08-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Brazilian Center for International Relations (CEBRI)
Abstract:
At its ninth meeting, CEBRI’s China Analysis Group promoted insightful exchanges among varied stakeholders concerning the implications of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Speakers focused on analyzing its strategic significance for China and the opportunities established for different actors involved, including partner countries and multinational companies operating in fields related to infrastructure. In light of the BRI’s impressive figures – encompassing over 90 countries, around 50% of global GDP and 70% of the world's population – participants explored the Initiative’s meaning beyond infrastructure investments and connectivity, stressing its geopolitical nature and the central role in the Chinese ambition to shape the future of globalization and the global order.
Topic:
Globalization, Infrastructure, Geopolitics, and Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)
Political Geography:
China, Brazil, and South America

293. Compliance shocks under low bureaucratic capacity

Author:
Daniel Tanis
Publication Date:
03-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Nottingham Interdisciplinary Centre for Economic and Political Research (NICEP)
Abstract:
There is a general consensus on the negative e€ects of corruption on state capacity and welfare, but there is little understanding of how anti-corruption initiatives a€ect other areas of policy making. This paper frames anti-corruption policies as a delegation problem and examines the e€ects of enforcement shocks on bureaucratic action. As politicians increase the oversight of the bureaucracy to ensure that their actions are more compliant, bureaucrats react to a higher risk of punishment and choose safer actions. This model shows, however, that under low policy capacity an increase in oversight may in fact distance the bureaucratic action from the political preferences if punishment is highly asymmetrical. I test this hypothesis using data from the Brazilian random audit programme and detailed records of municipal spending during 2006-2012. I show that being audited substantially increases the chances that bureaucrats will face legal sanctions for the policies they attempt to deliver, but there are no corresponding sanctions for under-delivery. As a result, I nd that a random audit increases the gap between the budget planned by politicians at the beginning of the year and the resources actually spent by bureaucrats. This is a sizable e€ect where bureaucrats spend 1.5-2% less of the average municipal budget and 10-15% less of the discretionary expenses. This e€ect is disconnected from the political cycle and the reported corruption risk. The results suggest important insights for the design of anti-corruption policies: if the size and threat of punishment is large enough, not delivering policies may be a safer strategy than risking non-compliance. Hence, combining an increase in the risk of punishment with higher incentives for policy delivery could mitigate the potential side e€ects of audit-based anti-corruption programmes.
Topic:
Corruption, Political Economy, Bureaucracy, and Compliance
Political Geography:
Brazil and Global Focus

294. Earnings inequality in the Brazilian formal sector: The role of firms, education, and top incomes 1994–2015

Author:
Marcelo Neri, Cecilia Machado, and Valdemar Pinho Neto
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
This paper documents the evolution and the determinants of earnings inequality in the Brazilian formal sector from 1994 to 2015, using establishment level data. In 2015, schooling explained 33 per cent of overall inequality. Firm-specific effects explain 65 per cent of total inequality level and 76 per cent of the inequality fall observed. The downward inequality trend parallels the one seen in household surveys. However, the distributive decompression goes only until the 90th percentile, which is in line with Personal Income Tax based evidence. The share of inequality explained by top 1 per cent and 0.1 per cent incomes rose 43 per cent and 91 per cent, respectively.
Topic:
Education, Employment, Inequality, and Business
Political Geography:
Brazil and South America

295. Dossier 5: Lula and The Battle for Democracy

Author:
Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
Publication Date:
06-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
Abstract:
A ‘soft coup’ is underway in Brazil. The United States has become increasingly emboldened in tightening their grip on protecting their interests in the region at the expense of democracy and the people’s sovereignty to choose their own governments. Accusations of corruption with no evidence and the imprisonment of the leading candidate, Lula of the Workers’ Party, have cast a somber cloud over the upcoming October elections. Through a variety of tactics, Brazil’s democracy is under siege.
Topic:
Corruption, Elections, Democracy, and Coup
Political Geography:
Brazil and South America

296. Power and Crisis: Explaining Varieties of Commercial Banking Systems in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico

Author:
Sebastian Etchemendy and Puente Ignacio
Publication Date:
01-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
In the early 1980s Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico had commer- cial banking sectors that were dominated by local banks. The largest countries in Latin America were subjected to common international economic pressures during both the neoliberal 1980s and 1990s – includ- ing the expansion of capital markets in the periphery and integration into the regional trade agreements NAFTA and Mercosur – and the post- 1998 financial turmoil. By 2015, however, the three countries had con- solidated alternative commercial banking systems: domestic private group dominated (Brazil), mixed (i.e., ownership more evenly divided among public, private domestic, and foreign banks (Argentina), and foreign bank dominated (Mexico). The article traces these alternative outcomes to the power of prereform private financial groups, the viru- lence of “twin crises” in the transition from fixed to floating exchange rates, and the (contingent) role played by government ideology.
Topic:
Regional Cooperation, Finance, Trade, and Banking
Political Geography:
Brazil, Argentina, South America, Latin America, North America, and Mexico

297. The role of Brazil in multilateral disarmament efforts

Author:
Sérgio de Queiroz Duarte
Publication Date:
12-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional (RBPI)
Institution:
Instituto Brasileiro de Relações Internacionais (IBRI)
Abstract:
This article examines Brazil’s motivations, objectives, and action in international instances related to nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation, and arms control, particularly the Treaty of Tlatelolco and the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). The paper describes the evolution of Brazilian attitudes and decisions and discusses prospects for nuclear disarmament opened by the proposal of a treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Nuclear Weapons, Disarmament, Nonproliferation, Multilateralism, and Institutions
Political Geography:
Brazil and South America

298. Grand Strategy and Peace Operations: the Brazilian Case

Author:
João Paulo S. Alsina Júnior
Publication Date:
12-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional (RBPI)
Institution:
Instituto Brasileiro de Relações Internacionais (IBRI)
Abstract:
This article aims to contribute to the analysis of Brazilian grand strategy and the place of UN peace operations (POs) in the context of this strategy. It deals with the political economy of POs and grapples with the trends of POs in the recent past, especially the increasingly robust mandates of peace operations and their implications. Brazilian participation in peace operations is discussed, focusing on its main characteristics and the consequences of an absence of consensus on the role of POs for the country´s grand strategy. Finally, suggestions are proposed that might create synergies between participation in POs and Brazil´s grand strategy.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Defense Policy, Grand Strategy, and Peace
Political Geography:
Brazil and South America

299. Brazil’s Nuclear Submarine: A Broader Approach to the Safeguards Issue

Author:
Eugenio Pacelli Lazzarotti Diniz Costa
Publication Date:
12-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional (RBPI)
Institution:
Instituto Brasileiro de Relações Internacionais (IBRI)
Abstract:
The article discusses the issue of nuclear-propelled submarines as a nuclear non-proliferation question, addresses the issue of safeguards procedures and arrangements, and suggests a broader, political approach to allay international concerns. Such safeguards arrangement would set the precedent for future arrangements, and particularly if integrated into a more comprehensive approach, might strengthen Brazil’s hand in nuclear negotiations, including on disarmament.
Topic:
Nuclear Weapons, Nonproliferation, Maritime, and Submarines
Political Geography:
Brazil, Argentina, and South America

300. Brazilian Hybrid Security in South America

Author:
Rafael Duarte Villa
Publication Date:
12-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional (RBPI)
Institution:
Instituto Brasileiro de Relações Internacionais (IBRI)
Abstract:
Existing research on security governance in South America functions on dichotomous lines. Analysis of Brazil’s security practices is a case in point. On the one hand, scholars point out the balance of power and hegemonic institutions as the main discourse in the security practices between Brazil and its South American neighbors. On the other hand, some other emphasize the importance of democracy, cooperation on defense and security, and peaceful conflict resolution between states in the region as indicators for the emergence of a security community between Brazil and its neighbors in the South American region. The way in which multiple orders coexist is not given adequate attention in empirical research. This article seeks to overcome this dichotomy. By foregrounding Brazil’s regional security practices, particularly during the Lula and Rousseff administration, I show the hybrid and sometimes ambivalent security governance system in Brazil, where mechanisms of balance of power and security community overlap in important ways.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Regional Cooperation, and Governance
Political Geography:
Brazil and South America