Is ‘lobby’ bad language? Mapping conceptual escapes and drawing the network of Brazil’s lobby on defense
For most Brazilians, the word ‘lobby’ sounds almost like a bad word. Using it means admitting the legitimacy of a market of political influence, which is often related to corruption. However, many countries chose not to hide from the problem, putting lobby regulation as a deterrent for corrupt behavior such as the United States and many others. It does not mean Brazil lacks lobby: different expressions conceal the word in Brazilian politics, and some examples of them are ‘institutional relations’, ‘governmental affairs’ or ‘public affairs’. After all, lobby is as an important mechanism in any public policy decision making, and especially in Brazil’s defense policy which, since 2012, includes the expansion of the Brazilian Defense Industrial Base. Previous studies also showed a direct relationship between the outset of Brazilian Defense Industrial Base and its increasing contributions political parties. Henceforth, we want to answer the following question: how Brazilian lobby on defense is currently organized? First, we discuss the conceptual issues when applying the concept of lobby in Latin American countries. Later, for the 2018 presidential elections, we use network analysis to identify institutional players and their interconnexions. Preliminary findings show that besides the presence of only a few industry players, the Military Parliamentary Advisory is one of the most important players in this particular political arena.