A ver navios? A revitalização da indústria naval no Brasil democrático

The article examines governmental policies for the revitalization of the shipbuilding industry in Brazil since the mid-2000s. It analyzes such policies from the perspective of their political-institutional arrangements. In order to evaluate both the political capacities and technical-administrative capacities produced by such arrangements, we compare the contemporary policy efforts, implemented under a democratic environment (post-1988), with those that supported the emergence of the shipbuilding industry in the past (between the 1960s and 1980s), a period characterized by authoritarian rule. After a strong crisis in the sector during the 1980s, the domestic industry was nearly extinguished in the 1990s. However, in the 2000s, the industry reemerges due to a series of government-led initiatives, such as the Program for the Modernization of the Oil and Gas Industry (PROMINP), the Program for the Modernization and Expansion of Naval Fleet (PROMEF), and the Program for the Acceleration of Growth (PAC). The analysis mapped out the main actors and processes involved with current efforts to promote the national naval industry. We describe the implementation processes, both from the perspective of the formal rules and institutions and of their actual operation. Our goal was to understand to which extend the implementation arrangements, and their interfaces with democratic institutions, contribute (or impose obstacles) to the execution of governmental policies targeting the revitalization of the Brazilian shipbuilding industry.