Brazil’s Foreign Policy: Between Self-Determination and Dependency

Abstract

Dana de la Fontaine investigates the continuities and ruptures in Brazilian foreign policy since the 1980s. On the basis of a historical analysis, she states that Brazil has always been in a conflictive relationship between its external dependence and the search for international autonomy. Since the development of modern Brazilian foreign policy in the 1930s, through its cooperation with, as well as its opposition to, the United States, the country was trying to establish itself as a sovereign power in South America and pursue its ambition of becoming a superpower at the international level. The transition to democracy in the 1980s marks the strengthening of a liberal foreign policy, which had reached its peak under Cardoso, before it diversified under Lula and Rousseff. It remains to be seen whether the relationship with China, promoted by Lula as an alternative international partner to the USA and the EU, will create new room for maneuver or rather mark the beginning of new dependencies.