The promise and peril of the state in neoliberal times: implications for the critical environmental education movement in Brazil

Abstract

Neoliberal ideology has made an impact on environmental education (EE) policies and practices in Brazil. The EE in Family Agriculture Program, of national scope and administered by the Ministry of the Environment, seeks to promote sustainable development in rural areas, specifically through strategies focused on adult education and non-formal education aimed at small producers (family agriculture). This program reveals profound ideological contradictions between the critical and transformative rhetoric of public policy and the actual program structures and practices administered by the state in a dependent economy, which primarily serve to reinforce a capitalist mode of production marked by high environmental impact and deeply stratified class relations. In the neoliberal era, states intending to protect the environment through critical EE strategies suffer serious limitations due to their role as stewards of a globalized economy based on the supply of raw materials, high-impact land-use, and a cheap labor force.

Keywords:

• critical environmental education
• sustainable development
• family agriculture
• neoliberalism
• education policy
• policy analysis
• Brazil

Notes

1. Abertura política refers to the process of democratization that took place between 1974 and 1985, when a long transition took place from military rule to the democratic 6th Republic.

2. Coordenadoria-Geral de Educação Ambiental do Ministerio da Educação CG-EA/MEC.

3. Diretoria de Educação Ambiental do Ministerio do Meio Ambiente DEA/MMA.

4. http://www.bunge.com.br/sustentabilidade/2008/port/download/cartilha_RA.pdf, accessed on May 22, 2013.

5. http://www.planejamento.gov.br/ministerio.asp?index=61&ler=s881.