Doctoral Dissertation Research--Agencies on Trial: A New Model of Environmental Enforcement in Brazil?

University Of California-Berkeley, Berkeley CA

Investigators

Abstract

Since the passage of the 1988 Constitution, the prosecutors of the Brazilian Public Ministry have become the "watchdogs" of environmental agencies, bringing investigations and lawsuits on behalf of the public interest against agencies that neglect their enforcement duties. This research seeks to determine whether a new model of environmental regulation has emerged in Brazil capable of stemming the under-enforcement of environmental laws. Two questions are asked: (1) How do Brazilian environmental agencies and the Public Ministry differ in their approaches to the enforcement of environmental law? and (2) How have the enforcement practices of Brazilian environmental agencies been reshaped by the Public Ministry's environmental "watchdog" activities? The researcher will conduct nine months of field research in two Brazilian states, Sao Paulo and Para, using ethnographic and quantitative data collection methods. The research contributes to three academic literatures: the sociolegal and political science literature on comparative regulatory institutions; the sociological literature on state capacity in developing countries; and scholarship on the democratization of Brazilian legal institutions.