Defense and security policies in Executive-Legislative Relations: Changes and continuities in the dynamics of the governmental agenda.

• Grant number: 25/00118-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: March 01, 2025
• End date: February 28, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Political Science - Public Policies
• Principal Investigator: Felipe Gonçalves Brasil
• Grantee: Sophia Moreira Borogan
• Host Institution: Escola de Artes, Ciências e Humanidades (EACH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 20/07485-3 - Dynamic attention and agenda-setting in Brazil (Brazilian Policy Agendas Project), AP.JP

Abstract

This Scientific Initiation project seeks to analyze and compare the power of the Executive and Legislative agendas on defense and security policies at the federal level, and seeks to answer the following questions: "What space have defense issues occupied on the government agenda of the Executive and Legislative branches in recent governments?" and "How has the increase in the Legislative branch's agenda power under the Executive impacted security policy?" Based on this, the aim is to understand the impact of current power dynamics on defense policy, as well as the impact on the balance of power between the Executive and Legislative branches. The work uses the literature on government agendas to justify the influence of the Chief Executive's agenda on public policies, and will also explain the increase in Congress' power recognized by the current political science literature on Executive-Legislative relations, and its impact on changes in behavior and attention to defense policies in recent years. In recent years, defense and security policies have been a good example for analyzing the relations between one branch of government and the agenda of both branches of government. Some of the bills that receive a lot of media attention are related to the defense sector. Increasingly, we can see the intense action of coalitions with different agendas that aim to approve certain bills and block others. To this end, this paper aims to analyze the legislative terms from 1995 to 2025, which includes the governments of Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Lula, Dilma, Temer, Bolsonaro, and the third Lula government. The following documents will be used to map the Executive's agenda: Provisional Measures, Presidential Decrees, Bills, and Laws approved by the president. To map the legislative branch's decision-making agenda, the bills proposed by this branch will be used, as well as the PECs initiated by Congress or the Senate, and the approved laws authored by the legislative branch. (AU)