An examination of how human rights bureaucrats, government workers who understand the role of the state as premised on the promotion and protection of human rights, shape state compliance with international norms, act as agents in the transnational policy process, and react to democratic backsliding.

Through the case of Brazil, the analysis reveals how bureaucrats have dealt with the country’s turbulent democratic times, from the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff in 2016 to the attacks on government buildings in 2023. The book challenges assumptions that the state is inherently predisposed to violate rights unless constrained by external pressure, depicting it instead as an arena of contestation marked by competing normative commitments.

Raising questions relevant for international comparative research, it shows how both expected and unexpected human rights bureaucrats facilitate the incorporation of human rights values into domestic policy in the framework of a transnational policy process.