Política externa e democracia: reflexões sobre o acesso à informação na política externa brasileira a partir da inserção da temática ambiental no caso dos pneus entre o Mercosul e a OMC

Abstract

SPECIE, Priscila. Foreign Policy and Democracy. Access to information in Brazilian foreign policy since the introduction of environmenal arguments in the Retreaded Tyres case from Mercosur to the WTO. 2008. Dissertation (Master) – Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciencias Humanas, Universidade de Sao Paulo, 2008. This research aims at studying the relationship between foreign policy and democracy. The study focuses on access to information in Brazilian foreign policy through the introduction of the environmental arguments in the retreaded tyres dispute from Mercosur to the WTO (WT/DS332). The research was based on foreign and public policy analysis. These theoretical bases enabled to investigate the limits to a wider participation of actors other than the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MRE) on foreign policy. The research shows an enlargement on policy making with the integration of the environmental arguments which resulted, for instance, in the participation of the Ministry of the Environment. Subsequently, it was possible to notice a wider access to information to a whole new range of actors, including non state actors. Nevertheless, in the present case study the tendency to a democratic access to information found its limits on the selective and informal conduct of the MRE to interact with certain actors in certain circunstances.