This is a repository for reference of the data gathered by the Las Americas international research project, and it is organized by scholars in the Brazilian branch. In Brazil, Las Americas researchers receive funding from The São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) and they are hosted by the Brazilian Center of Analysis and Planning (CEBRAP). The principal investigator in this effort is Maria Hermínia Tavares de Almeida, along with Janina Onuki and Leandro Piquet Carneiro. Associated Researchers include Feliciano de Sá Guimarães, Flávio Leão Pinheiro, Ivan Fernandes, and Umberto Mignozzetti.
This project aims to study perceptions of issues in foreign policy and international affairs among both the general Brazilian public and Brazilian elites. It is comprised of three related subprojects:
- The third wave of the "Las Americas" panel survey with Brazilian elites, foreign policy specialists, and the lay public;
- Data collection for the Foreign Policy Press Observatory, which consists of cataloging a new dataset of the foreign policy discussions in major Brazilian media outlets;
- An experiment on how lay public preferences influence elite foreign policy positions.
The first subproject constitutes the backbone of this proposal. It continues the international collaborative research Las Américas y el Mundo, undertaken by a network of researchers and institutions, and coordinated by the Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE) in Mexico. We will conduct the third wave of the panel survey, which is repeated every four years. It is comprised of two surveys: the first with social and political leaders, and foreign policy specialists, on a sample of 200; and the second, a representative survey of the Brazilian public, on a stratified sample of 1500. In both cases, we will include experimental questions varying the information contents offered to the respondents, thus aiming to clarify and causally identify research problems. We also seek to uncover how the lay public perceives and learns about international affairs.
The second subproject focuses on the foreign policy preferences of the most influential media outlets in Brazil. It consists of organizing a dataset of articles and editorials on foreign policy published in the newspapers Estado de São Paulo, Folha de São Paulo, Valor Econômico, and O Globo.
The last subproject uses the data collected in both surveys to assess the influence of public opinion on elite foreign policy preferences. It is an informational experiment, where leaders are presented with lay public positions on a variety of issues, and then are surveyed to measure how these positions influence their opinions. All three subprojects are well connected and anchored on both surveys. They explore how foreign policy positions are constituted, identify their characteristics, and examine the role of such positions in the Brazilian foreign policy agenda.
All the data collected in this survey, as well as all surveys conducted by the Las Americas project, will be available online in this repository. You may find the Foreign Policy Press Observatory on CEBRAP's webpage.