Ruptures in the agroecological transitions: institutional change and policy dismantling in Brazil

Brazil is one of the few countries that has implemented policies aimed at supporting agroecological transition processes on a national scale. While its experience has caught the attention of the international community interested in building sustainable and healthy food systems, recent literature points to the dismantling of these policies. This article identifies the variety of dismantling strategies to analyze how they are linked to the modification of the policy paradigm. Results suggest that the formation of a 'clientelist-corporocratic' paradigm legitimized active and visible dismantling strategies, such as the extinction of policy instruments and the delegitimization of agroecology through discursive mechanisms.

Automated summary

This article examines the dismantling strategies of Brazil's agroecological transition policies and analyzes their connection to the modification of the policy paradigm. The results suggest that the legitimacy of these strategies is closely linked to the shift in the policy paradigm.