When Foreign Policy Meets Social Demands in Latin America

Abstract

In order to introduce this special issue of Contexto Internacional, we first seek to provide a panoramic understanding of the Latin American political landscape. Next, we consider the new (and not so new) development strategies adopted by Latin American states, and their implications for foreign policy and international relations. Following this, we offer a brief review of the literature on Latin American foreign policy analysis and some of the theoretical and methodological challenges facing the study of Latin American international relations, thus providing a context for a deeper understanding of the contributions to this special issue. Put differently, our objective is to provide readers with a general idea of the reasons why foreign policy has met, should have met, or has been expected to meet social demands in contemporary Latin America.

International Clientelistic Networks: The Case of Venezuela at the United Nations General Assembly, 1999–2015

“…However, we cannot consider ALBA membership as a determining condition for the membership in the Venezuelan clientelistic network because, despite the exchange of benefits, it also had a strong ideological component. ALBA members were supposed to agree and manifest alignment with Chávez's "twenty-first-century socialism" and were essentially left-wing governments (Cusack 2019;Belém Lopes and Faria 2016;Raby 2011;Girvan 2011). Therefore, since we cannot accurately identify the mechanism operating behind ALBA, we may not consider it as a treatment variable but rather as a control one, containing a hybrid mechanism combining ideology and clientelism.…”

Do Non-State Actors Influence Climate Change Policy? Evidence from the Brazilian Nationally Determined Contributions for COP21

“…It was only after the creation of the Brazilian Forum on Climate Change (FBMC) in 2000, during President Fernando Henrique Cardoso's final years in office, that the Brazilian civil society emerged as a strong civilian actor in environmental policy (Kiessling, 2018). This trend builds momentum during Luis Inacio Lula da Silva's administration, in which the insulation and concentration of FP in BMFA were questioned by social actors ( de Faria, 2012; see also Lopes and Faria, 2016).…”

“…First, due to constitutional constraints, any pressure to shape FPs depends on the structure of traditional institutions ruling it: the executive and the BMFA. Throughout the 1990s, there was a progressive openness to social participation in FP (Farias and Ramanzini, 2015), especially human rights and environmental social organisations (Lopes and Faria, 2016: 15). Regarding environmental issues, dialogue with non-state actors emerged since Rio-92, with limited participation in certain events, such as the negotiations for the Kyoto Protocol.…”

“…First, from a theoretical perspective, there is a growing interest in the participation and influence of domestic actors on FP (de Faria, 2012; Lopes and Faria, 2016; Salomón and Pinheiro, 2013). Traditionally, Brazilian FP is known as centralised (insulated) and as the least democratic policy compared to other issues (Lopes, 2017), especially because of BMFA historical influence (Lopes and Faria, 2016: 44). Second, the climate has been historically regarded as a domestic issue in many countries.…”

The “Left Turn” and the Latin American countries’ discourses about the UN Peace Operations around the world

“…monetary inflation control and fiscal austerity -but expanded state intervention in the economy. These were the bases of the so-called "new developmentalism", which was implemented by these governments, to a greater or lesser extent(BRESSER-PEREIRA, 2009;BELÉM LOPES;FARIA, 2016). Some of them also attribute an important role to gender equality (WEISEHOMEIER, 2010).…”