Hemispheric reconfigurations in Northern Amazonia: the ‘Three Guianas’ amid regional change and Brazilian hegemony

Regional and hemispheric reconfigurations in Latin America and the Caribbean are increasingly mediated by Brazilian power, and the engagement of Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana with this emerging context is intriguing. They are tentatively moving away from a Caribbean region with which they are culturally contiguous, towards a South American continent in which they are geographically located. This is partly a reflection of the gradual opening up of the Northern Amazonian space that they share collectively, and also with Venezuela and Brazil. These processes are occurring as cause and effect of Brazil’s emergence as a regional – and even regionally hegemonic – power. With reference to wider debates on regionalism and hegemony, we analyse the uncertain consequences of these shifts.     

Emerging powers as normative agents: Brazil and China within the UN development system

Institutions are frequently thought of as ‘socialising’ member states into pre-established norms. However, this influence is not necessarily a one-way street; members can also affect institutions, whether individually or collectively. This article analyses the behaviour of two emerging powers – Brazil and China – within the field of international development. What roles have these two states played in shaping global development norms? The article examines the key motivations, positions, and initiatives taken by Brazil and China, with special reference to the UN development system (unds). Whereas Brazil and China’s early behaviour within the unds diverged significantly, in the post-cold war period both have become increasingly interested in – and capable of – influencing UN norms. However, despite greater involvement in UN development negotiations, these countries’ leverage in normative debates originates outside of the unds, through their South–South cooperation programmes. The current diversification of platforms through which the norms of international development are negotiated may enhance the influence of emerging powers, although their ability to channel this influence effectively will depend on their capacity for norm entrepreneurship, rather than mere norm blocking.     

Family farming in Brazil: evolution between the 1996 and 2006 agricultural censuses

This article compares the main findings of Brazilian agricultural census data of 1996 with the same of 2006 by applying the methodology known as ‘FAO/INCRA’ (Food Agriculture Organization/Instituto Nacional de Colonização e Reforma Agrária) which allows the characterization of family farms in relation to the total universe of farms. In this comparison several variables are shown, including the share of family farming in the total value of production, in the total number of farms, utilization of modern technology and partial factor productivity. Census data shows that family farming has changed from 37.91 percent of total production value to 36.11 percent during a decade of strong expansion of agriculture as a whole, demonstrating the economic relevance of this segment which, besides producing food, is integrated in the most important productive agricultural chains of the Brazilian agribusiness. Family farming is a heterogeneous segment, with different sub-segments. During the studied period of ten years the most rich of these sub-segments (A) has increased participation in total production, while the poorer sub-segments (C and D) have only grown in absolute terms without a corresponding increase in production.     

Promotion of contentious agency as a rewarding movement strategy: evidence from the MST-paper industry conflicts in Brazil

The recent scholarship on social movement outcomes has called for explanations about how movements influence economic outcomes. This article demonstrates in practice how a dynamic and relational approach, coupled with a Bourdieuian analysis of social, symbolic, and territorial space, can be utilized in explaining the influence of movements in contentious politics around investment projects. Based on participant observation and comparison across the Brazilian Landless Movement (MST) groups in areas of paper industry expansion, I assess the different movement strategies and their influence on pulp project outcomes. I reinterpret the ideal ‘MST model’ as constructed by specific strategies promoting contentious agency: organizing and politicizing, campaigning by heterodox framing, protesting, networking, and embedded autonomy vis-à-vis the state. A Qualitative Comparative Analysis comparing the expansion of 13 pulp holdings between 2004–2008 shows how these strategies influence investment pace. When both contentious and conventional strategies were used, movements managed to slow pulpwood plantation expansion.     

Peasant inclusion in global value chains: economic upgrading but social downgrading in labour processes?

This paper identifies impacts of value chain inclusion on labour from a social sustainability perspective. It focusses on the tasks, livelihoods and subjectivities of Amazonian flood plain peasants (ribeirinhos) who collect açaí for sale to an expanding market. The ‘logic’ of ribeirinho chain inclusion is explored using a combination of labour process and human security indicators. While household income benefits can be significant, gains may be threatened by monoculture trends and local power structures. Human security indicators suggest further caution. Whilst ribeirinhos remain very ‘flexible’ workers, chain engagement entails insecurities, as highlighted by their variable views of collectivity and contradictory positions with respect to sustainability. Sustainable chain prognoses require a deeper understanding of agents' means and of the preferred choices and voice of those working at the beginning of chains.     

Federalism and Governability in Brazil: Oil Royalties in Dispute

This article discusses the relationship between governability and federalism in Brazil, analysing the dispute among Brazilian states for oil royalties. This conflict features an unusual pattern in federal legislative voting, leading to regional alignment, rather than the usual party political configuration. This study explains the phenomenon by showing how this organisation makes it possible to align the preferences of national party leaders, regional party leaders, parliamentarians, and each state's voters. The political influence of governors and mayors is also underlined, and the Union's role in the process is described in detail.     

Platform for Emerging Powers——The BRICS Group and Its Prospects

正THERE is a Chinese saying,"Many things grow in the garden that were never sown there."Jim O’Neill,chief economist of Goldman Sachs Asset Management,first coined the BRIC acronym in 2001 to highlight the economic potential of Brazil,Russia,India,and China.In October 2003,Goldman Sachs released its annual report themed Dreaming with BRICs:the Path to 2050.The company’s main aim in creating this catchy term was to market its financial products.But     

构建中拉整体合作机制:机遇、挑战及思路(英文)

With all-round cooperation between China and Latin America ready to take off, and with a promising China-Latin America and the Caribbean Cooperation Forum becoming a high-level dialogue mechanism. China-Latin America relations are poised to be further deepened and elevated,which will lay a solid foundation for the development of ties between China and other developing countries.     

Back to the Future: Changing Repertoire in Contemporary Protests

This article opposes theoretical attempts to explain the Brazilian 2013 cycle of protests by fragmentation. It argues that the plurality of social actors engaged in those protests faced a field of contention deeply framed by autonomist practices, which allowed the aggregation of very different political views in an all-embracing political phenomenon. In addition, it suggests a broader change in the repertoire of contention that involves elements from the two historical periods discussed by Charles Tilly. Contemporary political contention gathers together the parochial and direct elements of the pre-social movements era with the broader and cosmopolitan elements of the social movements era.     

Federalism,Physicians, and Public Policy: A Comparison of Health Care Reform in Canada and Brazil

Abstract

This article uses comparative historical analysis to explore physicians’ involvement in health care reform in Canada and Brazil. Drawing on historical institutionalism, the analysis stresses how, beyond partisanship, physicians build consensus around and promote specific policy ideas, and how federal institutions shape physicians’ mobilization. In both countries, physicians’ mobilization shaped the emergence of universal health care coverage, but in quite different ways, because of the differing federal institutions. Although the Brazilian medical lobby was far more heterogeneous than the Canadian profession, one faction was able to mobilize at the local level to pursue policy ideas favorable to universal health coverage.