The brazilian foreign politics in the Cardoso government: an exercise of autonomy for the integration

Abstract

The changes in the Brazilian foreign politics in the nineties were important. During the two terms of the president Fernando Henrique Cardoso, they tried to substitute the reactive agenda of the Brazilian foreign politics dominated by the logic of distance autonomy with a new pro-active international agenda, determined by the logic of integration autonomy. According to it, the country must broaden the power of control over its destiny and face its problems through the active adherence to the elaboration of the rules and behavior policies of the worldwide management, cooperating in the formulation and functioning of the international regimes. The paper analyzes the period of the two terms of the President Cardoso, with an extension backwards to the previous period, Sarney, Collor de Mello, Itamar Franco, and forward, to Lula da Silva. We have tried to balance costs and benefits, insisting on the structural embarrassments that wind up influencing the international action of the country. In this context, the effort developed does not seem to be enough to alter an unfavorable situation. The negotiations concerning ALCA, trying to balance realism with the defense of particular interests, show the difficulties of this picture, which remain beyond a presidential management.