Regionalism and the Brazilian foreign policy: the Mercosur experience

Abstract

Regionalism has assumed a central role in the of Brazilian foreign policy formulation since the late 1980s, but not always with the same connotation, producing over time different strategies and actions by the Brazilian governments. This article demonstrates that these changes represent changes in the perception about the objectives and limits that the integration issue has acquired, and explains the redirects assumed by the Brazilian representatives. At the same time, and despite the different emphases, it argues that there was a continuity in the understanding about the role of regionalism for Brazil. The objective of the article is to show how this tension between changes and continuity in the Brazilian posture ended up marking the evolution of the South American integration process.