SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION AND SOCIAL POLICIES TO FIGHT HUNGER: A COMPARISON BETWEEN THE BOLSONARO AND LULA III GOVERNMENTS

• Grant number: 25/14756-7
• 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: Osmany Porto de Oliveira
• Grantee: Vitoria Cristina de Assunção Alves Bonfim
• Host Institution: Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus Osasco. Osasco , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This Scientific Initiation project seeks to analyze South-South Cooperation as a space for disseminating experiences and practices aimed at combating hunger, by comparing the governments of Jair Messias Bolsonaro (2019-2022) and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (2023-2026). The research focuses on the different foreign policy orientations adopted by each government in relation to international food security initiatives. During the Bolsonaro government, there was a shift in Brazilian diplomacy, with an emphasis on bilateralism and closer diplomatic relations with countries in the Global North. Lula's third term proposes a reorientation of foreign policy, based on fostering cooperation between countries in the Global South and mobilizing multilateral efforts to combat hunger. It is assumed that, although both governments share the same institutional and geographic context, they both adopted different guidelines in promoting the fight against hunger at the international level. To understand the impacts of these approaches on South-South Cooperation, a comparative analysis between the two governments will be carried out through qualitative research based on the most similar system design method and process tracing. The research will be supported by the collection of empirical evidence, which will be carried out through the collection of official documents, media records, semi-structured interviews and participant observation with a focus on the multilateral forums of the BRICS and the G20. (AU)