Crises and Openness Strategies in Brazilian Intelligence (1990-2025)

Abstract

In this article we investigate the contingent relationship between institutional crises and the evolution of openness strategies within the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (ABIN) from 1990 to 2025. Utilizing an original dataset of 62 public engagement initiatives, our study shows that intelligence democratization is not a linear trajectory, but a reactive phenomenon mediated by punctuated equilibrium. By contrasting two major institutional punctuations, our analysis reveals a trajectory in agency communication characterized by two distinct cycles. Following the 2008 crisis, a prevailing cultural diagnosis prompted bureaucratic insulation and defensive, pedagogical strategies of awareness designed to mitigate the authoritarian stigma of the agency's predecessor. Conversely, the existential crisis of 2022–2023 prompted a structural diagnosis. Incapable of retreating into secrecy, the agency adopted an innovative model of co-production, heavily prioritizing partnerships with academia aimed at reconstructing democratic legitimacy through epistemic authority. Ultimately, we argue that openness functions as a strategic survival repertoire, shifting in the analyzed case from unilateral demystification to dialogical engagement in response to acute institutional vulnerability.