Transnational Policing Field: The Relations Between the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Brazilian Federal Police

Abstract

This paper aims to understand the relatively autonomous development of joint efforts between the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Brazilian Federal Police (PF) in drug international control, in parallel to governmental relations. To shed light on this process, this documentary research resorts to Bourdieu’s formulation of field, which provides instrumental tools to understanding the relations between state bureaucracies at a transnational level, thus overcoming the inter-state framework that dominates the International Relations discipline. The findings indicate that assistance, training, and joint operations created a trust-based network among police officers from different parts of the world, enabling DEA to influence the PF conducts, guidelines, objectives, and strategies.