Commercial policy and the Brazilian legislative: the role of the Committee on Foreign Relations and National Defense

• Grant number: 10/00233-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: April 01, 2010
• End date: March 31, 2011
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Political Science - International Politics
• Principal Investigator: Janina Onuki
• Grantee: Marcela Silveira Tullii
• Host Institution: Instituto de Relações Internacionais (IRI). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The role of the Legislative Assembly in the decision-making process of foreign policy has been traditionally classified as non-significant. Most studies on the topic points to an indifference of the Legislative Assembly to foreign policy questions, assuming that they were under the responsibility of the Executive. From the late 1980s, there appeared new analytical perspectives questioning these view. The first studies that sought to evaluate the influence of the Legislative on foreign policy considered the north-American case. Recently, studies with the same analytical perspective focusing on the Brazilian case emerged, seeking to understand the Congress' performance in foreign policy issues. This research project intends to explore the role of the Brazilian Legislative in the decision-making process of foreign policy. The main focus is to analyze the topics of commercial policy in the sphere of the Comissão de Relações Exteriores e Defesa Nacional (CREDN) - Comittee on Foreign Relations and National Defense - by studying its composition and its activities in the deliberative process.