Double standards? An interdisciplinary, comparative study of the impacts of neoliberal conservation on national park systems in Canada and Brazil

In the last 40 years, neoliberalism has become the dominant political economy, guiding not only global economies and politics, but also every other aspect of contemporary life, including the management and planning of national parks and equivalent reserves, and global conservation goals and objectives. Despite a growing body of academic research on the impacts of neoliberal conservation, there is still a need for studies that explore the issue from a comparative, international perspective and examine its different repercussions on nations with different historical, social, and geographical contexts. An interdisciplinary approach, combining the data analysis methods of critical discourse analysis, Foucauldian discourse analysis and historical institutionalism was used to perform a comparative case study between national park systems in Canada and Brazil. The research identified the main path dependencies, as well as the periods of stability, and internal and external aspects that shaped the national park systems in both countries. Discourses used to promote or resist the adoption of market-based instruments and other neoliberal policies were also identified and grouped into three larger discursive formations: 1) Public funding is the ideal model for national parks; 2) There is no alternative to the market for national parks; and 3) The market is the best solution for national parks. The results suggested a double standard between Canada and Brazil related to their position in the world-system as core and peripheral nations. Discourses were used to promote neoliberal policies as the best and only solution for national parks, but the external and internal pressure for their implementation was more geared towards peripheral countries while core countries had more power to decide which policies would be adopted. Foucauldian discursive strategies were used to provide an alternative way to understand how core nations and international organizations work to control the discourses that are available to peripheral countries.