Resumo O artigo argumenta, primeiramente, que a difusão internacional de políticas públicas deve ser entendida também como um dos diversos instrumentos da política externa e que ela é um instrumento bastante versátil, uma vez que pode estar associada à maioria ou talvez a todos os tradicionais instrumentos da política externa: políticos, econômicos, culturais e militares. Ademais, o trabalho defende a tese de que a exportação de inovações brasileiras no campo das políticas públicas pode ser considerada a espinha dorsal da política externa do país durante o governo de Lula da Silva (2003-2010), uma vez que ela foi central para: (a) a produção de uma renovada identidade internacional para o país; (b) a promoção do regionalismo pós-liberal na América Latina; (c) a defesa de novos ou expandidos papéis para as Organizações Internacionais, o que era uma das prioridades da política externa do Brasil naqueles anos; (d) a revitalização da coalizão Sul-Sul; (e) para a diplomacia presidencial; e (f) para a promoção de uma cooperação bilateral mais sistemática com os vizinhos da América Latina e com os países africanos.

Abstract The article argues that international policy diffusion should also be understood as one of the many foreign policy instruments, and that it is a rather versatile one, as it can be coupled to most or perhaps all traditional foreign policy instruments: political, economic, cultural, and military. It also proposes that the exportation of Brazilian policy innovations may be regarded as the backbone of Lula da Silva’s foreign policy (2003-2010), as it was central to: (a) the manufacturing of a renewed international identity for the country; (b) the promotion of post-liberal regionalism in Latin America; (c) the defence of new or expanded roles for international organizations, which was a central priority for Brazilian foreign policy in that period; (d) the revitalisation of the South-South coalition; (e) the presidential diplomacy; and (f) the promotion of systematic bilateral cooperation with Latin American and African countries.

RESUMO O propósito do artigo, que introduz o dossiê intitulado “Transferência, difusão e circulação de políticas públicas”, é, primeiramente, apresentar um panorama sintético do campo de pesquisas sobre a difusão internacional de políticas públicas, para situar o leitor brasileiro e da América Latina, bem como de outras regiões. Na sua segunda seção, o artigo apresenta uma radiografia dos estudos brasileiros sobre a difusão de políticas.

ABSTRACT The purpose of this article, that introduces the dossier titled “Policy Transfer, Diffusion and Circulation”, is, firstly, to present a simple and synthetic map of the field of studies of international policy diffusion, in order to situate the reader from Brazil and Latin America, as well as others interested from different regions. In its second section, the article presents a survey of the state of research on policy diffusion that has been produced in Brazil.

Abstract In order to introduce this special issue of Contexto Internacional, we first seek to provide a panoramic understanding of the Latin American political landscape. Next, we consider the new (and not so new) development strategies adopted by Latin American states, and their implications for foreign policy and international relations. Following this, we offer a brief review of the literature on Latin American foreign policy analysis and some of the theoretical and methodological challenges facing the study of Latin American international relations, thus providing a context for a deeper understanding of the contributions to this special issue. Put differently, our objective is to provide readers with a general idea of the reasons why foreign policy has met, should have met, or has been expected to meet social demands in contemporary Latin America.

Abstract In this article we propose an alternative theoretical path to study contemporary Latin American foreign policies, evoking the notion of 'public policy cycle' to explain how democratic regimes in the region have been able to expand their autonomy over time. For that, we will first identify the sources of a given country's foreign policy, both at home and abroad, as well as its decision-making and implementation mechanisms. With regard to methodology, by replacing sheer deductivism for some inductivism, this approach also innovates in allowing more rigorous comparative politics and, consequently, new general theories about Latin American politics and policies.

É consensual entre os analistas da Política Externa Brasileira o reconhecimento da priorização do eixo Sul-Sul nas estratégias de inserção internacional do país durante o governo Lula da Silva, bem como o papel de destaque concedido ao continente africano. Com o intuito de dar lastro empírico às análises sobre a retomada e repriorização das relações entre Brasil e África, este trabalho pretende analisar comparativamente a cooperação técnica provida pelo Brasil para os países africanos durante os governos Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1995-2002) e Lula da Silva (2003-2010). Procura-se identificar e comparar o número e os tipos de acordos firmados, a dispersão geográfica desses acordos e a diversidade temática dos projetos de cooperação técnica horizontal desenvolvidos pelo Brasil naquele continente. A fonte principal dos dados analisados, ainda pouco explorada pela literatura acadêmica brasileira, é o banco de dados do Departamento de Atos Internacionais do Ministério das Relações Exteriores.

The prioritization of the South-South axis during the Lula da Silva government is consensual among analysts of Brazilian Foreign Policy regarding its international insertion, as well as the prominent role given to the African continent. In order to provide empirical analysis to the reprioritization of relations between Brazil and Africa, this paper aims at comparing the technical cooperation provided by Brazil to African countries during FHC (1995-2002) and Lula da Silva (2003-2010) administrations. Its primary source of analyzed data, little explored by the Brazilian academic literature yet, was the databank of the Department of International Acts of the Ministry of External Relations.

The "humanistic" or "solidarity-based" trend in the Brazilian strategy of international insertion, adopted after the rise to power of President Lula and considered innovative, consolidated the objective of prioritizing the South-South axis and can be explained by domestic, regional, and systemic reasons. This strategy was put into practice by increasing the international aid granted by Brazil, by transferring resources and technology and by the emphasis placed on conveying to partner countries some of the domestic social policies and programmes developed successfully by the Brazilian government. The aims of this paper are: (a) to look at how this "humanism" and "solidarity" appeared in the discourse of the Brazilian authorities; (b) to discuss the reasons for them and their logic in the national, regional, and systemic dimensions; and (c) to map the initiatives adopted, the preferred partners and areas, the resources used and the intragovernmental connections necessary for their implementation.

Reconhecendo que são crescentes as pressões no sentido da reversão do paradigma ainda relativamente insulado de produção da política exterior do Brasil, bem como a sua ampla repercussão doméstica hoje, este trabalho busca: (a) analisar os fatores, tanto domésticos como internacionais, que, a partir da redemocratização do país e das mudanças sistêmicas provocadas pelo fim da Guerra Fria, têm pressionado o Itamaraty no sentido da superação de seu insulamento; e (b) avaliar os instrumentos que têm sido empregados pelo Ministério das Relações Exteriores para a promoção da coordenação intragovernamental (no interior do Executivo) e intergovernamental (entre o Executivo federal e os governos subnacionais), bem como da cooperação intersetorial (governo federal e atores societários), na produção da política externa do país.

Acknowledging the increasing pressure to reverse the relatively isolationist paradigm of Brazilian foreign policy making, as well as its current broad domestic repercussion, this article seeks to: (a) analyze the factors, both domestic and international, that, since the return to democracy and the systemic changes caused by the end of the Cold War, have pressured the Brazilian Ministry of External Relations (Itamaraty) to overcome its isolation; and (b) evaluate the instruments that have been used by Itamaraty for the promotion of intra-governmental policy coordination (within the Executive Branch) and intergovernmental (between the federal executive and state governments), as well as inter-sector coordination (federal government and social actors), in the formulation of the country's foreign policy.

This study evaluates the organizational mechanisms and structures adopted by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Itamaraty) to promote the coordination of domestic government actors for implementing the guidelines of the IBSA Forum (India, Brazil, and South Africa), created in 2003. After reviewing some of the factors that have led Itamaraty to lose its traditional insulation, the authors classify the mechanisms for intra-governmental coordination and analyze its dynamics, focusing special attention on the 16 thematic working groups created to ensure the achievement of IBSA's objectives. In the final remarks, the authors question Itamaraty's purported loss of capacity for intra-governmental coordination.

Ce travail évalue les mécanismes et les structures organisationnelles adoptés par l'Itamaraty afin de promouvoir la coordination des acteurs gouvernementaux, au niveau interne, en vue de la mise en place des consignes du Forum IBAS (Inde, Brésil, Afrique du Sud) créé en 2003. Après avoir revu les facteurs qui ont amené l'Itamaraty à abandonner son traditionnel isolement, on classe les mécanismes de coordination intragouvernementale et on analyse leur dynamisme, avec une attention particulière concernant les 16 Groupes de Travail suivant des thèmes adoptés pour assurer la concrétisation des objectifs de l'IBAS. Dans les considérations finales, on cherche à savoir si en effet la compétence de coordination intragouvernementale de l'Itamaraty a subi une perte quelconque.

The aim of this article is to analyse the process of expansion of the Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Area, created in 1973 with 14 municipalities, which today comprises 34 municipalities, making it the second largest MA in Brazil. After the redemocratization, more specifically after the promulgation of the State Constitutions in the late 1980s, several new metropolitan areas were created in the country, and all nine MAs instituted in the early 1970s increased their number of member municipalities, in a context of low prioritization of the MAs by the federal government. The article highlights the factors of a legal, institutional, symbolic and political/electoral nature that explain the expansion of the BHMA, also very present in other regions. It underscores the impact of the model of metropolitan management adopted after the 1989 State Constitution on the capacity to produce cooperative action in the metropolitan sphere. It also analyses the manner in which the dilemma of collective action for the management of the MAs in the state of Minas Gerais was sought to be overcome, by means of adopting a new institutional model, in the mid-2000s.

Partindo de uma discussão acerca do tradicional insulamento do processo de formação da política externa brasileira, no artigo se discute o impacto potencial das interações entre opinião pública e política exterior, procurando compreender a periferização de tal problemática na agenda de pesquisas dos analistas da política externa do país.

Departing from a discussion about the traditionally insulated process of foreign policy formation in Brazil, the article discusses the potential impact of the interactions between public opinion and foreign policy, trying to understand the marginal role such a question plays in the research agenda of Brazilian foreign policy analysts.

Nos últimos anos, tem prevalecido nos estudos e nos debates acerca da avaliação de políticas públicas um viés francamente normativo e/ou uma priorização dos aspectos mais técnicos da pesquisa avaliativa, bem como uma ênfase em seu papel de instrumento gerencial. Reconhecendo o caráter incipiente da pesquisa e da prática da avaliação no Brasil, o presente trabalho pretende: (1) analisar os fatores que têm justificado e condicionado a implantação generalizada de sistemas de avaliação, sobretudo nos países da América Latina; (2) averiguar as razões da prevalência, no âmbito estatal e também no plano analítico, de uma concepção "tecnicista" da avaliação, vista hoje quase exclusivamente como instrumento da gestão governamental; e, finalmente, (3) enfatizar o caráter eminentemente político da avaliação de políticas públicas, elencando e categorizando suas distintas formas de utilização. Será ressaltada, assim, a virtual subordinação do uso gerencial da avaliação e de sua suposta capacidade de encerrar, reiniciar ou revitalizar o ciclo das políticas às injunções políticas mais abrangentes, às estratégias e aos interesses dos tomadores de decisões e demais envolvidos.

In the last years, both research and debates concerning public policy evaluation have clearly been marked by a specific normative bias and by an emphasis upon the technical aspects of evaluation, as well as by the valorization of its role as a management tool. Recognizing the incipient character of both the research and the practice of public policy evaluation in Brazil, this paper has the following objectives: (1) to analyze the aspects that have justified and conditioned the generalized implementation of public policy evaluation systems, particularly in Latin America; (2) to discuss the reasons behind the prevalence, both in the state and in the analytical level, of a "technicist" conception of evaluation, which is regarded today almost exclusively as an instrument to be used by the public managers; and (3) to emphasize the essentially political character of public policy evaluation, listing and categorizing the distinct forms of its utilization. The virtual subordination of the management use of evaluation to broader political projects and to specific strategies and interests of decision makers and other stakeholders will be stressed.

Au cours de ces dernières années, nous avons assisté, dans le cadre des études et des débats sur l’évaluation des politiques publiques, à une prédominance du biais normatif et/ou une primauté des aspects plus techniques de la recherche évaluative, ainsi qu’à une mise en avant de leur rôle d’instrument de gestion. Tout en reconnaissant le caractère initial de la recherche et de la pratique de son évaluation au Brésil, ce travail propose: (1) d’analyser les facteurs qui, jusqu’à présent, ont justifié et conditionné la mise en place généralisée de systèmes d’évaluation, surtout dans les pays d’Amérique latine ; (2) de rechercher les raisons de l'importance, dans le cadre de l’État et aussi sur le plan analytique, d’une conception "technisciste" d’évaluation, comprise aujourd’hui presque exclusivement comme un instrument de gestion gouvernementale; et, finalement, (3) de mettre l’accent sur le caractère éminemment politique de l’évaluation des politiques publiques, en citant et en rangeant leurs différentes formes d’utilisation. Nous prétendons, de cette façon, mettre en avant la subordination virtuelle de l’emploi de l’évaluation comme instrument de gestion et de son éventuelle capacité de mettre une fin, de recommencer ou de revitaliser le cycle des politiques aux injonctions politiques les plus englobantes, aux stratégies et aux intérêts des preneurs de décision et des autres acteurs impliqués.

Nas duas últimas décadas, os estudos acerca da interação entre os atores estatais e privados no processo de produção das políticas públicas têm sofrido significativas reformulações. Na verdade, há hoje uma Babel de abordagens, teorizações incipientes e vertentes analíticas que buscam dar inteligibilidade à diversificação dos processos de formação e gestão das políticas públicas em um mundo cada vez mais caracterizado pela interdependência assimétrica, pela incerteza e pela complexidade das questões que demandam regulação. Nessas novas formulações, a variável conhecimento assume lugar de destaque. Compõem esse terreno caleidoscópico os analistas das policy networks, das comunidades epistêmicas, das advocacy coalitions, dos processos de difusão e transferência de políticas públicas, os estudiosos do policy learning, entre outros. O objetivo do presente ensaio é apresentar, de maneira sucinta, as principais vertentes analíticas que ressaltam o papel das idéias e do conhecimento no processo de produção de políticas, destacando o impacto apenas residual que a análise dessas questões tem tido no Brasil.

In the last two decades, the studies of the interaction between public and private agents in the policy making process have gone through significant reformulations. A great variety of empirical researches and theoretical essays have demonstrated the difficulties faced by the traditional interpretative models of interest intermediation in dealing with the diversification and greater complexity of these processes, which are often marked by non hierarchical interactions and by a low degree of formal intercourse among the main actors, as well as by the increasingly relevant role played by new agents, such as transnational NGOs and expert networks. In fact, there are today a vast array of analytical approaches that try to unveil the new structures of the policy making processes in a world increasingly characterized by uneven interdependence, uncertainty and by the greater complexity of the issues demanding regulation. In many of these approaches, the variable knowledge plays a central role. The objective of the present essay is to survey briefly these approaches that emphasize the role played by ideas and knowledge in the policy making processes, pointing out the residual impact that such questions has had in the public policy analysis field in Brazil.

Tout au long des deux dernières décennies, les études à propos de l'interaction entre les acteurs publics et privés dans le processus de production des politiques publiques ont souffert des reformulations significatives. En vérité, il existe de nos jours une véritable Babel d'abordages, de théorisations insipides et de tendances analytiques qui cherchent à rendre intelligible la diversification des processus de formation et de gestion des politiques publiques dans un monde de plus en plus caractérisé par l'indépendance asymétrique, par l'incertitude et par la complexité des questions qui demandent à être réglementées. Dans ces nouvelles formulations, la variable «connaissance » occupe une place privilégiée. Ce terrain kaléidoscopique est composé par les analystes des policy networks, des communautés subjectives, des advocacy coalitions, des processus de diffusion et de transfert de politiques publiques, des chercheurs du policy learning, parmi d'autres. L'objectif de cette étude est de présenter, de manière succincte, les principales tendances analytiques qui soulignent le rôle des idées et du savoir dans le processus de production de politiques, en particulier de l'impact uniquement résiduel que l'analyse de ces questions a eu au Brésil.

O artigo tem por objetivo discutir o impacto de algumas políticas implementadas pela social-democracia sueca, ao longo das últimas décadas, com o propósito de facilitar o ingresso e a permanência das mulheres no mercado de trabalho além de fomentar a igualdade de gênero no país. Primeiramente, discute-se o impacto da legislação de 1971, que baniu a tributação conjunta dos casais, tornando compulsórias as declarações de renda individuais, o que, dado o sistema tributário altamente progressivo do país, implicou o estabelecimento de claros incentivos econômicos para que as mulheres participassem do mercado de trabalho. Além disso o artigo enfoca o chamado "sistema sueco de seguridade para os pais", um conjunto de direitos e benefícios estruturados com o intuito de minimizar as incompatibilidades entre as exigências do universo do trabalho remunerado e aquelas relacionadas à criação dos filhos. São discutidas com maior ênfase as peculiaridades e as formas de utilização efetiva da licença remunerada para os pais quando do nascimento de uma criança.

The article aims to discuss the impact of some policies implemented by the Swedish social-democratic state in the the last decades with the purpose of facilitating the entrance and permanence of women in the labor market besides fomenting gender equality in the country. Firstly, it is discussed the impact of the 1971 legislation that banned taxation for couples, turning compulsory individual declarations of income, which, given the highly progressive tributary system of the country, implied the establishment of clear economic incentives for the participation of women in the labor market. Besides, the article focuses the so called "Swedish system for parents security", a set of structured rights and benefits aimed at minimizing the incompatibilities between the demands of the paid work universe and those related to a child's upbringing. The emphasis is on the peculiarities and effective forms used by parents concerning this paid license after the child's birth.

Le but de cet article est de discuter l'impact de certaines politiques mises en place par les sociaux démocrates suédois au long des dernières décennies, afin de faciliter l'accès et la permanence des femmes dans le marché du travail et promouvoir l'égalité des sexes dans les pays. Dans un premier temps, nous abordons l'impact de la législation de 1971, qui a banni l'imposition conjointe des couples et a rendu obligatoire les déclarations d'impôts individuelles. Cela implica, à cause du système tributaire hautement progressif du pays, dans l'établissement de subventions économiques pour que les femmes participent au marché du travail. Par ailleurs, l'article aborde la question du «système suédois de sécurité sociale pour le pays », relatif à un ensemble de droits et de bénéfices structurés dans le but de minimiser les incompatibilités entre les exigences de l'univers du travail rémunéré et celles relatives à l'éducation des enfants. Les particularités et les formes d'utilisation effective de l'arrêt rémunéré pour les parents lors de la naissance d'un enfant sont également abordées.