2019 Vol. 2, Issue 2




Economic relations between China and Latin America - a constructivist view in searching for the Bandung spirit

Douglas de Castro
The increasing economic presence of China in Latin America is generating a strong response from mainstream academics and politicians, which basic claim is of imperialistic features. An anachronical comparison with the great European powers is made to justify the claim of a wave of Chinese imperialism and neo-extractivism in the region. This study relies on the Constructivist Theory of International Relations and Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) to challenge this claim by founding empirical evidence of the presence of the Spirit of Bandung in the economic relationship between China and Latin America. The hypothesis in this article is that ideational factors as solidarity and shared experiences are essential to form a new narrative that goes beyond seeking material capabilities and survival in a Hobbesian international system structure, as well as to construct the new basis for a more equitable relationship between countries. We use the Brazilian case to test the argument, and the computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software (CADQAS) called ATLAS.ti as the research technique. The objective is finding minimal evidence in the primary documents that point into the confirmation of the hypothesis.

The financial power of China and the Renminbi

Alexandre Ramos Coelho
This article aims to present the main issues about China's economic growth and the internationalization of its currency - the Renminbi (RMB), as well as the financial and economic instruments used by China for this purpose not only around the world but also in the countries of South America. Finally, it assesses Brazil's foreign policy concerning China's economic and monetary expansion strategy, concluding that Brazil and South America, in general, do not have any economic and political strategy to deal with the Chinese monetary expansion.

Towards a new global investment governance? An analysis of the Chinese investment in Latin America and the Belt and Road Initiative global impacts

Luciana Ghiotto & Ariel Slipak
After the transformations in the People´s Republic of China in 1978, during the first years of the 21st century China has consolidated in the international order as a big power, taking into account its role in trade, production, finances, technology and even war power. In the last years, China has been the most dynamic trade partner for Latin America, as well as financier and investor. This relationship is deepening with the New Silk Road or Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) where China has proposed that the region gets involved in this project through the realization of a number of infrastructure mega-projects headed by China, which will surely transform geography and power relations. In this article we explore the geopolitical relevance of BRI and the main aspects of the Sino-Latin American relationship, but fundamentally the global and regional strategies developed by China in the search for protection and facilitation of its investments and in the area of arbitration.

Bingo regulation in Brazil and recommendations from the Bingo Project: the odds of a sustainable regulation of the sector

Maria Luiza Kurban Jobim & Toni Williams
Bingo is a form of gaming that is often associated with good works, social services, low stakes entertainment, and working-class sociality. In many parts of the world bingo halls are the province of charities, veterans’ clubs, older women, and families: But not in Brazil. Commercial bingo grew rapidly in Brazil during approximately a decade of legality that ended in 2007. Legal bingo halls employed tens of thousands of people and the game was widely played by middle-class and well-educated Brazilians as well as older workingclass women and men. However, the game, or more precisely the bingo halls in which it was played, came to be regarded as laundries for dirty money, sources of corruption of public powers, and risks to the security of urban neighbourhoods. Using contextualised socio-legal analysis of the places that Brazilian bingo halls became and their place in Brazilian society, this article summarises findings and conclusions from The Bingo Project and outlines key topics to be considered in framing new regulation on the controversial topic of gambling legalisation in Brazil. Its specific focus is the regulation of bingo to contain the risks the game poses and provide a foundation for the redevelopment of bingo as a legal leisure practice.

SOS collective actions

Heloisa Carpena
The paper points out the challenges to the Brazilian collective actions system brought up by the approval of the new civil procedural act. Constitutional right of access to justice and the individual initiative. Limits to literal interpretation of the statute.

Building the brand "Cafés do Brasil": the institutional failures and their effects on the brand's positioning on the international market

Marco Aurélio Oliveira dos Santos; Daniela Callegaro de Menezes & Antonio Domingos Padula
New consumption patterns based on quality and sustainability have encouraged the coffee production chain to innovate and adapt to the new competitive scenario. While Brazil is the world’s largest coffee producer, it is known mainly as a producer of commodity coffee. To overcome these weaknesses, the Brazilian government has implemented policies designed to align the coffee sector with the new global consumption patterns. The centerpiece of those policies is the creation and institutionalization of the “Cafés do Brasil” program with the purpose of promoting the brand “Cafés do Brasil” in the international market as a symbol of quality, flavor, diversity of origins and sustainability. This paper deals with how the institutional framework that guides the agents was designed, how the structure and mechanisms for coordinating and adapting the agents involved in the Cafés do Brasil program were established and to what extent the program has achieved its goals. The research findings reveal that elements linked directly to the institutional framework have compromised the program’s effectiveness. By decentralizing the coordination and control activities to regional agents, the Federal Government is failing to coordinate the program. The lack of alignment between the different organizational levels has led to the proliferation of regional brands aimed at the domestic market indicating a shift away from the original objective of the program to establish the brand “Cafés do Brasil” as a symbol of fine Brazilian coffees on the international market.

The common law trust used as a guarantee tool in comparison with equivalent instruments of the new Brazilian Civil Procedure Code

Verônica Scriptore Freire e Almeida
This article aims to demonstrate the functionalities of the trust as an authentic legal transaction and fundamental in the constitution of guarantee of the most varied types of business, through the comparison with the instruments used in Brazilian law. For this purpose, this article beginning with the accurate definition of the common law trust, describing its peculiar characteristics, as well as its flexibility. It also presents an overview of trusts under the legal system of common law, where it distinguishes their structure and identifies their main guarantee purposes. Moreover, this article specifies that the common law trust, when used as a guarantee tool, is more efficient than the guarantee instruments permitted under Brazilian law. This is due to the slowness of the process to enforce the creditor's right which, even with the recent changes to the Civil Procedure Code, remains a challenge. Thus, it can be concluded that the Brazilian current structures are more limited and bureaucratic when compared to the common law trusts.

The internet under a new international tribunal framework

Daniel Freire e Almeida
This working paper is divided into six sections that provide the relevant knowledge and innovative arguments of the internal organization of the International Tribunal for the Internet, including on the General Assembly, the General Secretariat, the Judge’s Chamber, the Chamber of Prosecutors, the International Association of Lawyers, and the Diplomats of the Tribunal. This article has as its main objective to present the organizational structure formulated by the author to create an International Tribunal for the Internet. All therefore to be established due to the challenges that the jurisdictions of the national and regional spaces confront to apply their judicial decisions and laws in the international environment of the Internet.



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