The objective of this project is to observe whether there is change or rather continuity in the patterns of trade policy by adopting a comparative perspective and focusing on the main aspects of the institutional field. The main puzzle is to explain how two countries (Brazil and Argentina) with similar economic models at some point and facing analogous changes from the world economic scenario, ended up with such distinct trajectories in terms of trade policy. The investigation covers the 1990-2005 period and it adopts a qualitative methodology by building a panel of the main foreign policy approaches in the field of trading and analyzing three levels of decision-making: inter-bureaucratic, legislative dynamics and Executive-Legislative relations.
From Janina Onuki.