Weak by Design: How Agribusiness Organize in Congress to Trap Environmental Reforms in Brazil and Chile

The research examines the 2012 Brazilian New Forest Code and the 2022 Chilean Water Code reform to demonstrate how economic elites intentionally design weak institutions. By analyzing legislative debates and elite interviews, the author argues that environmental degradation can result from regulations that are designed to be ineffective, even when fully enforced, regardless of whether the legislative environment is ideologically cohesive or fragmented.

• Institutional weakness in environmental regulation can be a result of intentional design features that render regulations ineffective, even if they are fully enforced, rather than simply a result of low enforcement.
• In Brazil and Chile, agribusiness actors organized within the legislative process to influence the design of the 2012 New Forest Code and the 2022 Water Code reform, respectively, to reduce their own compliance costs and limit the laws' ability to protect natural resources.
• Economic elites can successfully organize to block or dilute institutional reforms across different political contexts, including both ideologically cohesive coalitions (as seen in Chile) and fragmented party systems (as seen in Brazil).

APA

Milmanda, B. F. (2026). Weak by Design: How Agribusiness Organize in Congress to Trap Environmental Reforms in Brazil and Chile. Climate Social Science Network. https://cssn.org/weak-by-design-how-agribusiness-organize-in-congress-to-trap-environmental-reforms-in-brazil-and-chile/

Chicago

Milmanda, Belén Fernández. Weak by Design: How Agribusiness Organize in Congress to Trap Environmental Reforms in Brazil and Chile. Climate Social Science Network, 2026. https://cssn.org/weak-by-design-how-agribusiness-organize-in-congress-to-trap-environmental-reforms-in-brazil-and-chile/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Milmanda |first1=Belén Fernández |title=Weak by Design: How Agribusiness Organize in Congress to Trap Environmental Reforms in Brazil and Chile |publisher=Climate Social Science Network |date=15 March 2026 |url=https://cssn.org/weak-by-design-how-agribusiness-organize-in-congress-to-trap-environmental-reforms-in-brazil-and-chile/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{milmanda2026weak, author = {Milmanda, Belén Fernández}, title = {{Weak by Design: How Agribusiness Organize in Congress to Trap Environmental Reforms in Brazil and Chile}}, institution = {Climate Social Science Network}, year = {2026}, month = mar, url = {https://cssn.org/weak-by-design-how-agribusiness-organize-in-congress-to-trap-environmental-reforms-in-brazil-and-chile/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }