Brazilian foreign policy networks: Diplomatic circulation and institutional relationships of Ministry of Foreign Affairs

ABSTRACT

Introduction:

The patterns of participation and institutional circulation of Brazilian diplomats allow us to understand the bureaucratic politics' relationships of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA or Itamaraty) and, therefore, the priorities of Brazil's foreign policy networks.

Materials and Methods:

The database information comes from the diplomats' 2010 Yearbook, and the research analyzes their co-participation in various institutions according to their hierarchical positions within the Ministry. The hypothesis considers that the MFA's primary relationships relate to class A diplomatic posts, the Presidential Office, and the United Nations. The paper uses the social network analysis methodology and its measures of eigenvector centrality and hierarchical clustering.

Results:

The structure of the networks showed a high concentration of institutional connections under a center-periphery shape. On the one hand and among class A diplomatic posts, Buenos Aires and Washington stood out. On the other hand, the United Nations Organization and the Presidential Office were the institutions that performed the highest centrality values and hierarchical clustering patterns among all the diplomats' tiers.

Discussion:

The diplomatic posts in Argentina's capital, for the low and medium diplomatic strata, and in the capital of the United States, for the ministerial elite, reinforce that the Brazilian institutional foreign policy relational interdependencies remain closely tied to both primary and traditional strategic partners. The United Nations and the Presidential Office demonstrate that Itamaraty's political domain reaches the external and domestic systems' political cores. Due to this bureaucratic politics' nature, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has to foster opportunities and fluxes with these institutions to maintain, establish and coordinate resources, allowing the implementation of its public policy networks at the domestic, international, and multilateral levels.

KEYWORDS:
Ministry of Foreign Affairs; social network analysis; bureaucrats; public policies; foreign policy