An Emerging, Post-Neoliberal Power: The Practice of Brazilian South-South Cooperation in Haiti

Abstract

This study examines the of Brazil's humanitarian and development cooperation with Haiti. Brazil is one of several donors to have significantly increased their provision of development cooperation over the past decade as part of broader shifts in global political economy, raising questions as to how cooperation functions in terms of these powers' broader foreign policy objectives. The dissertation situates the question in literature that asks why states are motivated to provide development cooperation, how cooperation impacts recipient states, and expectations for the foreign policy behaviour of emerging countries in general, and for Brazil specifically. The project is based on extensive fieldwork carried out in Brazil and Haiti with 57 individuals and groups in Portuguese, French, and English, as well as Kreyol (with the assistance of an interpreter). In contrast to the current treatment of the objectives of a state in providing development cooperation, which remains focused on Western powers, I demonstrate empirically how cooperation has supported Brazil as a specifically post-neoliberal emerging power (meaning an interventionist state committed to balancing market concerns with other social, political and economic objectives). I argue that Brazilian cooperation has been positively received by Haitian authorities, resulting in clear (albeit short-term) political gains, mainly because of Brazil's commitment to capacity-building through direct engagement with Haitian officials. However, in approaching aid as a practice, I further conclude that the features of cooperation and the Haitian state's response are inexplicable without a interpretation that recognizes Brazil's desire to position itself as an alternative to the West and Haiti's consistent and problematic treatment as fragile in its traditional aid relations. I develop the concept of post-colonial practice to acknowledge how emergent forms of South-South cooperation occur in this broader, context. This approach forges links between material and ideational contributions in IR, especially from critical political economy and work (as well as post-development).