Legal elites and international relations: the Wilson Center on the anticorruption agenda of the brazilian judiciary

Abstract

The article aims to bring elements to the analysis of the role of the think tanks in the building of the political agenda mobilized by the judicial institutions in Brazil 2000s. We focus on the role of the American think tank Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in spreading the anticorruption agenda and in the relations established with the summit of the Judiciary on the national scene. Through content analysis of the successive reports published by the entity, as well as the connections between supporters, intellectuals and judicial agents who occupy prominent positions in the Brazilian Judiciary; we sought to explore the Wilson Center ideational production. The material obtained shows the direction of the Institute's actions towards the dissemination of the anti-corruption agenda. This process intensifies, especially as of 2014, when cooperation ties with the Brazilian legal elite arise through different events in a context of strong political and judicial protagonism around this agenda.

Keywords

• wilson center
• legal elites
• brazil