Brazilian Cooperation Research Articles

Incorporating the Social License to Operate into International Investment Law: Taking Stock from the Brazilian Experience

Abstract The social license to operate can be broadly defined as the social acceptability of an investor’s business practices by local communities. This article argues that the social license to operate can be incorporated into international investment law by allowing for local communities’ participation. The Brazilian cooperation and facilitation of investments agreements (CFIA) are used as a benchmark to sustain this argument. I explain that the CFIAs make room for the social license to operate at a procedural and at a substantial level. First, local communities can participate in the dispute prevention procedures provided for by CFIA. By this means, they bring a third party’s perspective into the investor-State relationship by voicing its concerns on the investors’ activities. Substantially, this can be supported by the detailed provisions on corporate social responsibility enshrined in the CFIA and which can be invoked by the local communities during the dispute prevention procedure.

A Cooperação Brasileira para o Desenvolvimento Internacional como Instrumento de Política Externa: a Economia Política da Cooperação Técnica Brasileira entre 2003 e 2016

ABSTRACT Why would a country provide International Development Cooperation (IDC)? The aid literature identifies moral and humanitarian purposes, political-diplomatic objectives, and economic interests as the main reasons a country would have an IDC policy. This paper contributes to this debate through a case study of Brazil’s motivation to provide technical cooperation between 2003 and 2016, employing an innovative analytical framework for this case. Especially during Luis Inácio Lula da Silva’s government, Brazil’s official discourse emphasized its national cooperation’s solidarity characteristics. One may link this non-indifference tone to the moral and humanitarian principles of providing IDC. Notwithstanding, the South-South Cooperation (SSC) mutual benefits narrative indicates political and economic interests in its execution. This paper analyzes the Brazilian Technical Cooperation (TC) allocation patterns between 2003 and 2016. It explores whether (and which) political and economic considerations were significant determinants of Brazilian cooperation. On the one hand, trade exports, subsided loans, and political support in international institutions help explain the Brazilian Technical Cooperation allocation pattern during this period. On the other, Brazil prioritized less-developed countries with better democratic institutions in its TC policy.

In-vitro NLRP3 functional test assists the diagnosis of cryopyrin-associated periodic syndrome (CAPS) patients: A Brazilian cooperation

ObjectiveTo report our five-years experience on the use of NLRP3 inflammasome functional assays in the differential diagnosis of Brazilian patients with a clinical suspicion of CAPS. Patients and methodsThe study included 9 patients belonging to 2 families (I, II) and 7 unrelated patients with a clinical suspicion of AID according to Eurofever/PRINTO classification, recruited between 2017 and 2022. The control group for the NLRP3 functional assay consisted of 10 healthy donors and for the CBA cytokines measurement of 19 healthy controls. Patients underwent clinical evaluation, genetic and functional analysis. ResultsAll members of the family I received the diagnosis of Muckle-Wells Syndrome (MWS), carried the NLRP3 Thr348Met variant and resulted positive for the functional assay. The 2 patients of the family II resulted negative for the mutational screening but positive for the functional assay compatible with a MWS clinical phenotype. In 2 unrelated patients with NLRP3 mutations, including a novel mutation (Gly309Val, Asp303His), a positive functional test confirmed the clinical diagnosis of NOMID. 3 unrelated MWS and 1 FCAS patients resulted negative to the genetic screening and positive for the functional test. One patient with a FCAS-like phenotype harbored the NLRP12 His304Tyr variant confirming the diagnosis of FCAS2. ConclusionThe NLRP3 inflammasome functional assay can assist the clinical diagnosis of CAPS even in patients with unknown genetic defects.

Constructing a common language-in-education policy? Portuguese, Brazilian and Timorese collaboration in the reintroduction of Portuguese in Timor-Leste

The final decolonization of Timor-Leste, in 2002, happened during an era characterized by intensification of globalization processes and, as a result, the reconstruction of the country involved diverse types of multilateral and bilateral cooperation. The cooperation projects of Portugal and Brazil took on the main role in the development of local language-in-education policies contributing, for example, to the construction of the legal framework for education, the national curriculum and the training of teachers. The first objective of this article is to present an analytic account of the trajectory of the Portuguese and the Brazilian cooperation initiatives in Timor-Leste in the field of teacher training. The second objective is to analyse the positionings of social actors who had an involvement in one specific project, in relation to the processes surrounding language policy implementation since Independence. The data to be analysed in detail in this article are from narratives emerging in interviews, conducted during fieldwork in Timor-Leste in 2012. The focus of my analysis is on the interviewees’ lived experiences and the ways in which they indexed the multiple language ideologies circulating in this context. The interviewees’ accounts brought to the fore different ways of accommodating tensions and achieving consent in the construction of language-in-education policies in post-colonial contexts such as this one, reminding the importance of looking, in close detail, at the constant negotiation and recasting of priorities even among social actors aligned in the same politically hegemonic field.

Military Technical Cooperation for Development – The Brazilian Perspective of Interaction for The 21st Century

Cooperation and development are common themes of Brazilian foreign policy. Brazil has participated in the evolution of international cooperation for development since the beginning, for many years as a recipient country. Recently, Brazil has become interested in being an international protagonist in the area of development and cooperation. Since 1999, with the creation of the Ministry of Defense, it has been possible to think about unified military technical cooperation (MTC). In this Brazilian outlook for interaction in the 21st century, horizontal MTC stand out, with Africa being an area of attention. In this paper, we analyze aspects of Brazilian MTC with the Community of Portuguese Language Speaking Countries (CPLP). We consider the possibility that MTC can be presented as an element of Brazilian paradiplomacy for development. Unlike the Organization for the Cooperation and Economic Development (OECD), Brazil includes MTC as an element of development cooperation, believing that security and defense are issues directly related to development. The recent stage of the MTC of Brazil with CPLP states has resulted in more coherent defense, security and development policies linked to Brazil’s interests. Brazil created the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC). However, many of the MTC projects carried out by Brazilian armed forces with other countries are performed outside the Agency. Therefore, we analyze MTC through projects of the ABC, Ministry of Defense and the armed forces.

Priorities for Brazilian cooperation in the South Atlantic

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 inisterialMeetings 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.

Brazilian international cooperation in health in the era of SUS.

This paper addresses the role of health in Brazil's health diplomacy and international cooperation since the emergence of the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS), focusing in particular on South-South cooperation, in line with the priorities of the country's international technical cooperation since its creation. It highlights the relationship with the Latin American and Caribbean Countries (LAC) and the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), more specifically, with the Portuguese Speaking African Countries (PALOP) and East Timor. It emphasizes the roles of the Ministry of Health, through the International Advisory Working Group on Health (AISA) and the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). The article points out that the TC-41 Co-operation Agreement is one of the main instruments for enabling cooperation. It presents the cases of the structuring networks of health systems, as well as the paradigmatic negotiations of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the TRIPS Agreement and the establishment of UNITAIDS, in which Brazilian diplomacy had a predominant role.

Evaluating Brazilian South–South Cooperation in Haiti

I focus on evaluating Brazilian development and humanitarian cooperation in Haiti to answer how emerging providers such as Brazil are contributing to global development through cooperation. The paper establishes criteria for evaluation, arguing that global standards for aid effectiveness need to be expanded. I argue that when assessed on ownership, efficiency and sustainability, cooperation holds several advantages and limits, such as misplaced assumptions that Brazil’s approach is appropriate elsewhere. The discussion is rooted in the context of Haiti in order to underline how outcomes are not pre-determined, but rather depend on the model’s interaction with the partner context.

PRIESTS, TECHNICIANS AND TRADERS? THE DISCURSIVE POLITICS OF BRAZIL’S AGRICULTURAL COOPERATION IN MOZAMBIQUE/ Sacerdotes, técnicos e investidores? A política discursiva da cooperação agrícola brasileira em Moçambique/¿Sacerdotes, técnicos e inversores? La política discursiva de la cooperación agrícola de Brasil en Mozambique

This paper is situated in an emerging body on Brazilian development cooperation, looking at the specific case of cooperation concerning agricultural development in Africa. The analysis highlights the discursive side of Brazilian cooperation, where competing narratives about models and purposes construct different versions of reality for reasons related to the political character of cooperation. Discourse is hence an expression of the political. This paper frames Brazil’s agricultural cooperation as a domain of priests, technicians and traders, driven, respectively, by doctrinal, technical fixing and business rationales. This provides an initial frame of reference to distil actors’ narratives about Brazilian cooperation programmes. The paper focuses on two cooperation programmes in Mozambique: ProSAVANA and More Food International. The key for understanding competing narratives on these programmes and how they intermingle and change over time can be found in Brazil’s domestic sphere. The two programmes have been interpreted as an expression of contradictions in Brazil’s agriculture and particularly its dualistic character, typically framed as family farming versus agribusiness. Through the lenses of discourse analysis, this paper offers a critical reading of the interplay between priests, technicians and traders, as shaped by different interests and points of view in cooperation relations.

The AIDS Epidemic and the Mozambican Society of Medicines: an analysis of Brazilian cooperation.

This article analyzes the Brazilian South South Cooperation in Health in Mozambique, specifically the fight against the AIDS Epidemic through the Antiretroviral Factory, in light of the concept of Structural Cooperation in Health, and with a basis in the literature on Cooperation for Development and Global Health. Thus, the article is divided into four parts: (i) a historical-bibliographic review of health as an International Relations issue; (ii) an overview of the field of health in Mozambique; (iii) an historical-political-conceptual debate about both types of International Cooperation for Development: North-South Cooperation and South-South Cooperation; (iv) a study about the antiretroviral factory, better known as the Mozambican Society of Medicines (Sociedade Moçambicana de Medicamentos). Through a case study, our goal is to verify if the Brazilian actions in Mozambique are in accordance with the concepts defended by the Structural Cooperation in Health, as well as to create new inquiries for academic debate.

Brazil and the Development Cooperation

International development cooperation is a field of study which is gaining more importance in the last decade. A new development in this field is the emergence of SouthSouth cooperation perceived as a different strategy from that applied in North- South Cooperation. Brazil has been actively engaged in development cooperation across various regions, including South Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The augmentation of actions related to and resources earmarked for Brazil’s International Cooperation for Development policy was followed by a governmental discursive formulation, which emphasizes the guiding principles of Brazilian international development cooperation such as solidarity, horizontality, acting according to demands from partner countries, respect for sovereignty and absence of conditionality. This study will focus on technical cooperation provided by Brazilian institutions to developing countries. It is an analytical approach to technical development cooperation in Brazil, especially in the context of South-South cooperation. The main objective is to depict the reality of development cooperation in Brazil, how it is managed, the institutional setup, the principal challenges faced by the country and the lessons that can be learned from the Brazilian experience. Is the Brazilian type of assistance a better fit to the realities of recipient countries than those brought by Northern donors, owing to cultural and socioeconomic affinities? Brazilian cooperation is said to be demand driven, thereby offering solutions tailored to beneficiaries’ needs.

Brasil e Timor-Leste: reflexões sobre formação de professores universitários e cooperação educacional

A cooperação educacional estabelecida entre Brasil e Timor-Leste se pauta no princípio da horizontalidade e prevê a atuação conjunta com vistas à redução das desigualdades sociais. Este princípio também pressupõe que as ações estabelecidas no âmbito da colaboração internacional sejam de caráter transitório, enfocando a solução de problemas específicos que demandam atuação conjunta. No âmbito do apoio ao Ensino Superior, as ações do Programa de Qualificação Docente e Ensino de Língua Portuguesa (PQLP) estão inseridas, principalmente, no contexto da Universidade Nacional Timor Lorosa’e (UNTL) em atividades de ensino, pesquisa e extensão. No caso específico das atividades de ensino, pressupõe-se que as aulas sejam ministradas em codocência de forma a contribuir para a formação do atual quadro docente, tanto o brasileiro quanto o timorense. Este artigo visa refletir sobre as atividades da cooperação educacional brasileira desenvolvidas no Ensino Superior em Timor-Leste, indagando se estas têm contribuído para a formação e o aperfeiçoamento de docentes universitários de ambos os países. Sendo assim, apresenta-se uma breve revisão teórica sobre a importância da formação pedagógica do professor do Ensino Superior, muitas vezes relegada a segundo plano nas Instituições de Ensino Superior tanto do Brasil quanto de Timor-Leste. Posteriormente, destaca-se as potencialidades das atividades de codocência na formação do professor universitário de ambos os países. Finalmente, conclui-se que os resultados dessa cooperação bilateral horizontal são bastante expressivos e que a codocência contribui para a formação pedagógica dos professores de ambos países. Além disso, observam-se ganhos na aprendizagem da língua portuguesa pelos professores e estudantes timorenses.

Tussle for policy space in international investment norm setting: The search for a middle path?

The issue of international investment norm making has been the subject of considerable discussion and debate. The steady growth of bilateral investment treaties (BITs) along with investment norm setting in large mega regional trade agreements combined with recurring investor state disputes under these agreements bring out the growing relevance of this area of international economic law. States have begun to realise the importance of balancing their policy objectives with the rights of investors. Some of these approaches include the right to regulate provisions, increasing obligations on investors, departing from the original Investor-State dispute resolution mechanisms, etc. These approaches can be seen in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the European Union proposal in the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, Indian Model BIT, China–Australia Free Trade Agreement, and the Brazilian Co-operation and Investment Facilitation Agreements, which are the focus of the article. This article shows varying approaches and narratives on some of the core issues involved in investment disciplines and asks the question if there is a middle path in international investment norm making.

International Co-operation in Science and Technology: Concepts, Politics, and Dynamics in the Case of Argentine-Brazilian Nuclear Co-operation

Abstract: This article discusses the political dynamic of agenda-setting in the subfield of international nuclear co-operation, within an analytical framework that integrates the literature on international co-operation in science and technology, international nuclear co-operation, and foreign policy analysis. It presents the emblematic case of Argentine–Brazilian co-operation about the construction of two multipurpose reactors, whose process of decision-making has been disputed by officials, technological firms, managers, and nuclear scientists. It also underlines that economic and commercial motivations prevail in the process of international co-operation.

The New Brazilian Cooperation and Facilitation Investment Agreement: An Analysis of the Conflict Resolution Mechanism in Light of the Theory of the Shadow of the Law

This article focuses on the changes that have occurred in Brazil's position in the regulatory regime of investments. My main interest is the dispute settlement method adopted in the new Cooperation and Facilitation Investment Agreement, which consists of a preventive mechanism and a jurisdictional method. Using the metaphor of the “shadow of the law” and relying on a comparative data analysis of the South Korean model of investment protection, I explore whether this dispute settlement method represents a stimulus or an obstacle to negotiations.

Democratization by association? Brazil’s social policy cooperation in Africa

The field of international development has undergone major shifts as South–South cooperation expands. New questions are being raised about the political implications of this cooperation, including with respect to democracy and human rights. In this paper, we analyse the role of Brazil, a democratic provider of South–South cooperation, in fomenting these principles in Africa. We find that explicit democracy promotion makes up a minority of Brazil’s cooperation with Africa. However, Brazil also engages in social policy initiatives which, despite not being labelled as democracy and human rights promotion, are inspired by Brazil’s own experiences with re-democratization—what we refer to as “democratization by association”. We argue that these initiatives—mostly geared towards institution-building in areas where Brazil seeks to promote itself as a hotbed of policy innovation—are disembedded from the political context in which they arose in Brazil. While this disembeddedness allows the Brazilian state to maintain its official discourse of non-interference, it also makes the political impact of Brazilian cooperation in Africa highly uncertain.

The Role of a Donor in an Emerging Power’s Foreign Policy

Since 2003, Brazil has been searching for efficient modalities directed at deepening ties with Latin American and African states, such as knowledge sharing and engaging in dialogue on alternative ways of tackling common development challenges. Considered by Brazilian policymakers to be expressions of solidarity diplomacy, these concepts and modalities are part of what has been coined Brazil’s “autonomy through diversification” strategy. Brazilian presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff consecutively pursued geopolitical realignments focused on the creation of a multipolar world order with a strengthened, more visible position for Brazil, an emerging world power. This paper will examine the practical and theoretical implications of Brazil’s reconceptualization of its role as a donor of development aid, as well as donor-recipient relations as expressed in the two presidents’ official speeches, documents of the Brazilian Cooperation Agency, and COBRADI reports Furthermore, it will explore whether Brazil’s declared role as a development partner and its practices in the capacity thereof are consistent with the expectations of other significant development cooperation actors.

ProSAVANA and the Expanding Scope of Accountability in Brazil's Development Cooperation

AbstractAs Brazil becomes a visible player in international development, questions about accountability resonate loudly amidst wider scrutiny of the country's cooperation programme. This article takes the case of Brazil's flagship ProSAVANA programme in Mozambique to analyse changing accountability practices in Brazilian development cooperation. It documents the emergence of a transnational civil society movement contesting ProSAVANA, and analyses the interaction of this transnational movement with evolving domestic political contests surrounding Brazilian cooperation. This transnational mobilisation exposed weaknesses in Brazilian cooperation regarding transparency of action and lines of responsibility – contributing to shifts in both understanding and practices of accountability within Brazil. Campaigners called for the Brazilian government to accept greater responsibility vis‐à‐vis Mozambican constituents, and established direct lines of interaction between Mozambican and Brazilian civil society actors. To some extent, these links have enabled ProSAVANA target populations to communicate their preferences to Brazilian taxpayers, who can then call the Brazilian government directly to account. Such domestic‐transnational accountability interfaces can contribute to tackling ‘broken information feedback loops’ between donors and affected populations. However, the enduring significance of such changes will depend on the ability of emerging accountability practices to connect a broader range of stakeholders, both in Brazil and in Mozambique, and to establish constructive dialogue among competing visions and interests.

AGENDA SOCIAL NA POLÍTICA EXTERNA DO GOVERNO LULA: OS CASOS DA COOPERAÇÃO INTERNACIONAL PRESTADA PELO MDS E PELA ABC

O presente artigo visa a analisar a cooperação internacional prestada pelo Brasil através da Agência Brasileira de Cooperação (ABC) e do Ministério de Desenvolvimento Social e Combate à Fome (MDS) durante o Governo Lula (2003-2010). Tratam-se de estudos de caso complementares que trazem uma visão tanto da atuação mais ampla do ABC, órgão que centraliza a cooperação internacional brasileira, quanto de um ministério específico, o MDS, que trabalha conjuntamente com a ABC em iniciativas de cooperação técnica na área social. A atuação da ABC têm cumprido um papel fundamental no sentido de compartilhar as técnicas e tecnologias sociais desenvolvidas a partir do know-how adquirido por órgãos e agências estatais atuando no Brasil (como a EMBRAPA, a SENAI, entre outras). Por outro lado, a cooperação técnica do MDS tem se mostrado uma prática extremamente relevante, por valer-se do compartilhamento de conhecimento diretamente entre aquela minoria que está envolvida com o processo de tomada de decisão em seus respectivos governos, podendo alterar o rumo de estratégias e táticas em prol do desenvolvimento de seus países. Durante o Governo Lula, a atuação de ambos os órgãos garante uma maior interdependência política, geração de afinidades ideológicas e teóricas e permitem o aprimoramento constante de políticas públicas promotoras do desenvolvimento no Sul Global.

International drivers of Brazilian agricultural cooperation in Africa in the post-2008 economic crisis

This text focuses on the major drivers of Brazilian agricultural cooperation in Africa as conceived and pursued from 2004 to 2014, with emphasis on the impacts of political and economic international changes that took place in that period, and particularly the impacts of the 2008 economic crisis, in framing Brazil's foreign policy and development assistance initiatives. It addresses current international forces and developments at the systemic level, but also analyses recent economic domestic developments, in particular those directly related to Brazilian agriculture and those related to the policy framework of its evolving internationalization. Special attention is paid to the dual dimensions of Brazilian agricultural policy and to its projection in agricultural cooperation as pursed in Africa.