Article



Dados vol. 59 n. 4 Rio de Janeiro out./dez. 2016

The Social Construction of the Founding Principles and the Programmed Guidelines of Brazilian Foreign Policy under the 1988 Federal Constitution

Lopes, Dawisson Belém - Valente, Mario Schettino

Abstract

ABSTRACT The following article delves into the Constituent Assembly of 1987-1988 in order to investigate the social construction of the constitutional devices regulating the aims and approaches of Brazilian foreign policy. Research has therefore been conducted into literature on groups of interest in order to identify the actors and interests to have informed the development of such devices during the years mentioned, as well as the international restrictions to have affected the actors. By means of isolating and systematically dealing with each of the proposals analyzed, the study harnesses the tools employed in process training in order to identify the actors and interests that sought to influence the constituent process and served to shape the constitutional devices. The results demonstrate the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ role as an important source and agent in the constitutionalization of values and practices in foreign policy, mainly mobilizing groups of interests across various organizational levels, which, in promoting their preferences for limiting and orienting foreign policy, led to an expansion of the international agenda in Brazil.

Keywords: Brazil, foreign policy, groups of interest, Federal Constitution

DOI: 10.1590/001152582016106

Full text

The Social Construction of the Founding Principles and the Programmed Guidelines of Brazilian Foreign Policy under the 1988 Federal Constitution