The relationship between defence policy, defence budget and force structure in contemporary Brazil

Abstract

Despite having regional interests and abundant natural resources to secure while great-power competition is developing in South America, the roles and objectives of the Brazilian Armed Forces are strongly related to missions other than external security. In this direction, what are the main challenges regarding the relationship between defence policy, defence budget, and force structure in Brazil? To address this research problem, we explore an analytical approach that connects defence policy to budget execution in the context of civil-military relations in Brazil. The methodological framework of the paper adopts a qualitative approach, choosing a single case study as its research design. To cope with the classical limitations of the single-country study we adopted a broader historical perspective to raise observations. Thus, the paper deals with two levels of analysis: international (geopolitical landscape) and domestic (Ministry of Defence). Based on official documents and budgetary data between 1999 and 2021, we trace the major consequences of the Brazilian Armed Forces' continuous involvement in internal security issues, such as public safety, border security, environmental crimes, and migration crises. The paper shows that the current profile of Brazil’s military spending, which is characterised by relatively high costs on personnel and low investments, has detrimental effects on defence acquisitions, training, operations, and readiness. Our main argument is that the share of personnel expenditure is a fundamental challenge for Brazilian defence policy in the coming years.

Keywords

• National Security
• National Defence
• Armed Forces
• Brazil