The diplomatic career in Brazil: the process of bureaucratization of the Foreign Ministry

• Autor(a) principal: Cheibub, Zairo Borges
• Data de Publicação: 1989
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista de Administração Pública
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.fgv.br/rap/article/view/9157

The central thesis of this article is that the diplomatic career in Brazil has experienced process of professionalization and rationalization which points to its increasing bureaucratization. In this way, the author seeks to document some aspects related to this transformation in the Foreign Ministry. According to this analysis, the rationalization and bureaucratization are the basic traits of the historical evolution of this institution since 1930. One of the most relevant evidences and results of this tendency is the broadening of the recruitment basis of the career. This is demonstrated by an analysis of data concerning the educational formation, regional and socio-economic origins of the diplomats. Another important aspect of the process of bureaucratization is the acquisition of autonomy in relation to exogenus influences and the transformation of the diplomatic career in a more meritocratic career. In this case it is analyzed data regarding the time to be promoted to the highest post in the career and the exogenous influences upon this time of promotion. The conclusion is that these influences are very small. The analysis also shows that there is an increasing uniformity in the time of promotion to the highest post indicating a diminishing influence of external factors. The author concludes with some theoretical and historical observations regarding the influence of this process upon the substance of the Brazilian foreign policy.