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Begin New Search Political Geography Brazil Content Type Policy Brief Publication Year within 5 Years

1. Engaging Brazil in the era of climate action: Can Europe and the United States devise a new globalisation?

Author:
Lauri Tahtinen
Publication Date:
09-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Finnish Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
Increased deforestation in the Amazon is the outcome of Brazil’s long political crisis. What started in 2013 with a bus fare hike has traversed through contestable impeachment and populist uprising into a constitutional stalemate. European institutional investors have been in the vanguard of checking Brasília’s lax approach to deforestation and other environmental challenges. While investors continue to carry a big stick, European and US political leadership should consider what carrots they can offer Brasília. Brussels and Washington have changed course rapidly from an approach that emphasised closer ties with Brasília to one of dissatisfaction and distancing. This is both a cause and an effect of Brazil’s international standing diminishing both in terms of economy and country brand. In recent years, Brazil has simultaneously tried to raze more rainforest and build North Atlantic trading relations; the two cannot be done at the same time. A politics of rapprochement with Brazil requires much closer coordination between Europe and the United States than the parties are accustomed to; a commitment to a climate-sensitive globalisation is necessary from Brasília.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Globalization, and International Cooperation
Political Geography:
Europe, Brazil, South America, and North America

2. National Development Bank – BNDES and New Development Bank – NDB: a strategic partnership for development and sustainability?

Author:
Maria Elena Rodriguez Ortiz and Paz Andrés Sáenz De Santa María
Publication Date:
11-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
BRICS Policy Center
Abstract:
The precedence afforded in recent decades to environmental issues and to the centrality of a sustainable development agenda has led financial institutions to redefine and redirect their funding as well as their institutional and market arrangements to contribute towards balanced and inclusive development, such as strategies to support national environmental targets that will secure the sustainable development goals. This research will therefore explore some elements that underline the relation between the NDB and the BNDES, the Brazilian Development Bank, which can be considered one of the main agencies implementing funding geared for Brazil, with various joint projects approved.
Topic:
Development, Environment, Partnerships, Banks, Sustainability, and BRICS
Political Geography:
Brazil and South America

3. Do the BRICS care about International Security?

Author:
Filippo Cutrera
Publication Date:
01-2020
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
BRICS Policy Center
Abstract:
The present paper has three main objectives: first, to show that, over the first decade of existence of the group, between 2009 and 2018, the BRICS have manifested an increasing interest in expanding their cooperation beyond the traditional areas of economy and development to the field of global security; second, to present the content of their common security agenda and how it has developed throughout this period; third, to identify the main factors influencing the agenda-setting process of the group as well as the main challenges to further advancement. The research will conclude that the high levels of informality in the group’s cooperation and heterogeneity in the interests of its members have enabled BRICS to formulate common positions and to establish cooperation mechanisms on a broad range of issues of international security.
Topic:
International Cooperation, National Security, Regional Cooperation, and International Security
Political Geography:
Russia, China, India, South Africa, and Brazil

4. Developing Countries Can Help Restore the WTO's Dispute Settlement System

Author:
Ana González and Euijin Jung
Publication Date:
01-2020
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:
By refusing to fill vacancies in the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Appellate Body—the top body that hears appeals and rules on trade disputes—the Trump administration has paralyzed the key component of the dispute settlement system. No nation or group of nations has more at stake in salvaging this system than the world’s big emerging-market economies: Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Korea, Mexico, and Thailand, among others. These countries have actively and successfully used the dispute settlement system to defend their commercial interests abroad and resolve inevitable trade conflicts. The authors suggest that even though the developing countries did not create the Appellate Body crisis, they may hold a key to unlock it. The Trump administration has also focused its ire on a longstanding WTO practice of giving these economies latitude to seek “special and differential treatment” in trade negotiations because of their developing-country status. The largest developing economies, which have a significant stake in preserving a two-step, rules-based mechanism for resolving trade disputes, could play a role in driving a potential bargain to save the appeals mechanism. They could unite to give up that special status in return for a US commitment to end its boycott of the nomination of Appellate Body members.
Topic:
Development, Government, World Trade Organization, Developing World, and Donald Trump
Political Geography:
China, Indonesia, India, South Korea, Brazil, North America, Mexico, Thailand, and United States of America

5. With or Without You: How the G20 Could Advance Global Action towards Climate-Friendly Sustainable Development

Author:
Steffen Bauer, Axel Berger, and Gabriela Iacobuta
Publication Date:
01-2019
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)
Abstract:
With a collective responsibility for 80% of global greenhouse gas emissions, while representing 80% of global wealth, it is imperative that the countries of the G20 throw their weight behind the implementation of both the Paris Climate Agree-ment and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Develop¬ment. In the past, the G20 has demonstrated that it can do that. The G20 Summit in November 2015 in Antalya, Turkey, provided strong support for the climate agreement signed a month later at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris. In 2016 in Hangzhou, China, the G20 adopted an Action Plan on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Develop¬ment and committed to “further align its work” with the 2030 Agenda. Even though both agendas have emerged in the multilateral context of the United Nations system, the G20 is expected to exert strong political leadership to address global climate change and to achieve sustainable development. Yet, since 2017 the G20 has struggled to provide such leadership, as support for multilateral commitments, especially those involving ambitious climate actions, appears to be fading. Crucially, opposition to strong multilateral climate policy in the US and Brazil resorts to outright climate denialism at the highest levels of government. These developments are challenging the G20, and BRICS and the G7 for that matter, to sustain support for multilateral commitments on climate and sustainable development. The rise of populist and unilaterally minded parties in European club members may further the risk of side-lining climate and sustainability-related issues in the G20 process. This does not bode well at a time when the G20’s support could be a vital ingredient for the success of the United Nations’ summits on climate action and sustainable development, both scheduled to convene in New York in September 2019 – less than three months after the Osaka G20 Summit in Japan. Following our analysis, we identify four ways forward that should be conducive to harnessing the G20’s economic weight and political clout to push more ambitious global action towards climate-friendly sustainable development, in spite of apparent discrepancies between domestic agendas and global understandings.
Topic:
Climate Change, G20, Sustainable Development Goals, and Political Science
Political Geography:
Europe, Brazil, United Nations, and United States of America

6. The Amazon Is a Carbon Bomb: How Can Brazil and the World Work Together to Avoid Setting It Off?

Author:
Monica de Bolle
Publication Date:
10-2019
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:
The fires in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest in the summer of 2019 represent a government policy failure over many years, especially recently, as Brazilian public agencies that are supposed to curb man-made fires have been deliberately weakened. In keeping with his far-right nationalist campaign promises, President Jair Bolsonaro’s government has intentionally backed away from efforts to combat climate change and preserve the environment, which has emboldened farmers, loggers, and other players to engage in predatory activities in the rainforest. De Bolle calculates that if the current rate of deforestation is maintained over the next few years, the Amazon would be dangerously close to the estimated “tipping point” as soon as 2021, beyond which the rainforest can no longer generate enough rain to sustain itself. The tragic fires have demonstrated that protecting the Amazon rainforest is a global cause. The international attention provides an opportunity for the governments of Brazil and the United States to stop denying climate change and cooperate on strategies to preserve the rainforest and develop ways to sustainably use its natural resources. The international community should revive and expand the Amazon Fund to invest in ways to reduce deforestation through the possible use of payments for environmental services. Brazil should adopt and enforce regulations on land use in the Amazon region while cracking down on illegal uses, such as logging and mining, and should restore conditional rural credit policies to fight deforestation.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, and Jair Bolsonaro
Political Geography:
Brazil and South America

7. Darkness at noon: deforestation in the new authoritarian era

Author:
Susanna B. Hecht
Publication Date:
12-2019
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for International Environmental Studies, The Graduate Institute (IHEID)
Abstract:
The dramatic Amazon fires images of Au-gust 2019 triggered a geopolitical outcry. Brazilian President Bolsonaro, however, unflinchingly continues to support his destructive model of Amazonian development. This article recalls the extent of the disaster and delves into the reasons behind such disdain for environmental concerns.
Topic:
Agriculture, Climate Change, Development, and Environment
Political Geography:
Brazil and Latin America

8. Inequality in Brazil: Inclusive growth trend of this millennium is over

Author:
Marcelo Neri
Publication Date:
05-2019
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
After three decades of persistently high inequality, Brazil has been experiencing a downward trend since 2001, accompanied by a rise in household incomes. These trends lasted until 2014 when a major reversal took place on both fronts.
Topic:
Education, Inequality, Finance, and Income Inequality
Political Geography:
Brazil and South America

9. The Brazilian model of Investment Agreements and Socio-environmental Safeguards

Author:
Maria Elena Rodriguez and Gabriel de Barros Torres
Publication Date:
03-2018
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
BRICS Policy Center
Abstract:
With the purpose of contributing to expanding transnational investment flows, Brazil signed, in 2015, a series of Cooperation and Investment Facilitation Agreements (CIFAs) with African and Latin American countries. Among its provisions, the CIFAs feature distinctive characteristics in terms of direct (and indirect) expropriation, corporate social responsibility, dispute settlement mechanisms and national treatment clauses – ultimately, aiming to provide greater legal certainty for investors. However, civil society organizations have warned against the potential impact of this new model of investment agreements on the autonomy of states to establish regulations in the public interest. As such, this Quarterly Brief seeks to analyze similarities and differences between the new Brazilian CIFAs and traditional bilateral investment agreements – as well as to evaluate them in light of alternative frameworks, elaborated by civil society networks, aimed at balancing investment promotion with human and environmental rights protection.
Topic:
Civil Society, Environment, Treaties and Agreements, Regulation, Social Justice, Land Rights, and Public Health
Political Geography:
Brazil and Latin America

10. Gender and Energy approaches by BASIC countries

Author:
Alice Amorim and Marco Antonio Teixeira
Publication Date:
01-2018
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
BRICS Policy Center
Abstract:
This Policy Brief analysis how the BASIC countries have incorporated gender and energy issues in their NDCs and assesses some of the interrelations between key energy and gender inequalities of the bloc.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Gender Issues, Renewable Energy, and Sustainability
Political Geography:
China, India, South Africa, and Brazil