A política externa brasileira na cooperação sul-sul em saúde: a rationale da descontinuidade entre 2003 e 2016

Abstract

The rise of new actors and debates in the 21st century has strengthened the importance of South-South cooperation and Global Health studies on security and development agendas, with perceptible effects on foreign policy making. The current work aims to analyze the Brazilian performance on South-South technical cooperation in health between 2003 and 2016, when the country made considerable efforts towards establishing a mutual partnership with several developing countries. Indeed, Brazil’s transition to democracy has gradually led to a set of foreign policy adjustments by the entry of domestic actors to fulfil its new agenda and competencies. Consensus building has thus become more complex. In this regard, the main internal institutions involved in health cooperation are the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC), part of the Ministry of Foreign Relations (MRE); the Ministry of Health (MS), whose sector responsible for managing technical cooperation initiatives is the International Health Advisory (AISA) and the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), whose division accountable for international partnerships in technical cooperation is the Center for International Relations in Health (CRIS). More specifically, this research intends to analyze the changes of Brazil’s foreign policy on South-South cooperation in health along Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff’s governments. In this manner, it is sought to examine these degree of discontinuation with respect to two primary change agents: the main decisor (president) and the members of the domestic decisionmaking arena (bureaucracy).