Brazilian Foreign Policy in Changing Times

This book analyzes Brazilian foreign policy after the democratic opening of the country in the mid-1980s. To illuminate this topic, authors Tullo Vigevani and Gabriel Cepaluni built an analytical framework which uses three concepts to examine Brazilian Foreign Policy changes over the years: (1) autonomy through distance, (2) autonomy through participation, and (3) autonomy through diversification. The authors demonstrate that the Brazilian military regime sought to distance itself from powerful countries in order to keep its domestic sovereignty, while the Brazilian democratic regimes—especially the Cardoso administration—tried to increase international connections despite practicing a foreign policy defending the nation's autonomy in relation to the great powers. With the Lula administration, the country still seeks greater international relationships but through a diversification strategy concerning its partners abroad, therefore counterbalancing the influence of the great powers, especially the United States.

One of the most persistent deficiencies in the literature on foreign policy is its almost exclusive focus on the 'core states' of Europe and North America - with an occasional sideward glance at China and India. Here we have a book that breaks these bonds. Its central theme is "autonomy" - exactly what peripheral states are not supposed to have in their foreign policies. Tullo Vigevani and Gabriel Cepaluni follow Brazil's "quest for autonomy" from the mid-1980s when its regime became democratic to the present moment - through five consecutive presidencies - and they demonstrate that this quest has been an underlying strategic priority, but that its tactical expression has varied considerably. … [T]heir innovative conceptualization of Brazil's progress in gaining greater autonomy….suggest[s] a "model" that might be applicable to the foreign policies of other peripheral states with similar ambitions., Tullo Vigenavi and Gabriel Cepaluni's Brazilian Foreign Policy in Changing Times: The Quest for Autonomy from Sarney to Lula fills a significant gap in the literature by offering a thorough, informative overview of twenty-five years of Brazilian foreign policy. Vigenavi and Cepaluni's study does not only offer a thorough, well informed, and systematic examination of a major country's foreign policy, but also suggests interesting broader insights that hold relevance far beyond its subject matter. Brazilian Foreign Policy in Changing Times: The Quest for Autonomy from Sarney to Lula is recommended to Latin America specialists as well as to students of international relations.

Tullo Vigevani is professor of political science at São Paulo State University (UNESP), research coordinator of the Center for Contemporary Cultural Studies, coordinator of the National Institute for Studies on the United States, and coordinator of the post-graduate program on international relations at the State University of Campinas and the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paolo. Gabriel Cepaluni has recently been a visiting researcher in the department of government at Georgetown University and is author of Patent Regime: United States X Brazil on the International Chessboard.