Paradiplomacia e mudanças climáticas: a contestação dos entes subnacionais nos EUA e no Brasil durante governos nacionais negacionistas

Abstract

This research is built on the understanding of foreign policy as public policy, with the aim of comparatively analyzing the paradiplomatic action of subnational governments in the field of climate change in Brazil and in the United States, contrasting it with the diplomatic action at the federal level. The argumentative tension of the thesis is forged in the encounter between two cases of foreign policy that adopted a discourse based on climate denial and the search for protagonism by subnational entities. Thus, the thesis seeks to understand the motivations of subnational governments and their causes. It also questions whether there was a challenge by these actors to the position adopted at federal level, whether there was a uniform pattern of action by these subnational entities or whether there were variations. And, in the case of variations, what factors could explain them? Methodologically, eight cases were analyzed in which subnational governments maintained a paradiplomatic action in the climate field: four involved government coalitions – two in the United States (U.S. Climate Alliance and America is all in) and two in Brazil (Governadores pelo Clima and Aliança pela Ação Climática Brasil) – two state governments – California, USA and Espírito Santo, Brazil – and two municipal governments – Chicago, USA and Niterói, Brazil. The period of the research concern two federal governments with positions based on climate denial – Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022) in Brazil and Donald Trump (2017-2021) in the United States. To conduct this analysis, we used previously published bibliographical research, official documents made available by the analytical bodies and semi-structured interviews with key players. The hypothesis to be tested is that, in the context of the cases studied, despite the negative action of governments at the national level, some subnational governments mobilized paradiplomatic mechanisms to continue acting actively in this international agenda as actors of contestation with the aim of mitigating the policy of obstruction promoted at the federal level (USA and Brazil). The research showed that the actors sought to position themselves as agents of contestation, adopting paradiplomacy for this purpose. However, beyond resisting federal actions, they also pursued other goals, such as gaining prominence on the national and international stage, promoting local development, and securing external funding.