Evaluating Foreign Policy as Public Policy (2013-2024)

• Grant number: 25/15825-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: December 01, 2025
• End date: November 30, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Political Science - International Politics
• Principal Investigator: Pedro Feliú Ribeiro
• Grantee: Gabriela Santos Machado
• Host Institution: Instituto de Relações Internacionais (IRI). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This undergraduate research project aims to contribute to the evaluation of Brazilian foreign policy within the framework of the Foreign Policy in Numbers project (POLEN). The main objective is to systematize quantitative data on foreign policy across different dimensions in order to construct a quantitative model for evaluatingforeign policy. In addition to updating data on spending related to diplomatic missions and diplomatic personnel, we propose to feed the POLEN portal and apply the input-output model to assess federal expenditures on the country's international engagement. We will use the Foreign Policy Index as a measurement of the foreign policy output. The method employed will be the Malmquist DEA for time series, which is capable of calculating the distance of each diplomatic representation from the efficiency frontier. This will allow for a quantitative comparison of the efficiency of each diplomatic post based on their costs and the intensity of Brazil's engagement by country and year, resulting in a panel data analysis. The project's main contribution is to offer an unprecedented quantitative evaluation of Brazilian diplomatic spending.