ABSTRACT
This chapter tells the background story of the port reform process and introduces the main societal actors that played key roles in the discussions around port reform legislation passed in the context of the market opening of the 1990s. It provides the outline of the life story of Brazil’s Port Modernisation Law, from its origins as Bill PL08/1991 to its approval as Law 8630/1993 to its demise/replacement by Law 12,815/2013. The chapter is presented in four sections, including (1) a brief history of Brazilian port legislation and institutional structure to the early 1990s; (2) port-related legislation and regulation from 1993 to 2013; (3) main features of the prereform Brazilian port labour regime; and (4) main features of the proreform business lobby. As such, this chapter engages in process tracing and identifying the key change agents (both reform proponents and opponents) to follow a single set of issues over an entire policy cycle (some twenty years). The aim is to create an analytic narrative about the port reform process in Brazil. This research approach is particularly useful for studying critical junctures or moments where a fundamental transformation of institutions is attempted (Ames et al. 2012). It allows for explaining both institutional stickiness and institutional change by examining the relevant actors, interests and resources that shape political behaviour and outcomes.
