Os think tanks na Política Externa Americana para o Brasil

Abstract

How is Brazil perceived by think tanks in the United States? Is there one single conception of the country disseminated among them, or are there multiple angles and visions? These are some of the questions approached by the author of the present study. The work of American policy institutes regarding Brazil as well as the influence they usually hold over the federal government and the Congress of the United States is the subject of but a few investigations within Brazilian academia. The author, therefore, has selected four think tanks for this comparative analysis, on the basis of the acknowledged excellence of their research and the assiduity of their work on Brazil and/or Latin America: Brookings Institution, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Brazil Institute, the Council on Foreign Relations, and Inter-American Dialogue. The author s main goal is to investigate the potential connection between the ideas these institutes disseminate about Brazil through their publications and American foreign policy towards the country. To that effect, this research has mapped out and analyzed recent materials produced by the aforementioned think tanks about Brazil, the concepts and narratives they contain, and how they are used to establish a projected image of Brazil among foreign policy scholars and decision makers in the United States. This study also investigates the dynamics between American scholars of Brazilian studies, who make up a rather homogeneous network of experts. For this research, the author has focused on a period of time that has seen a shift in Brazilian foreign policy, which resulted in increased diplomatic activity and visibility. Although that corresponds mainly to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva s mandate (2003-2010), this study has also explored the Fernando Henrique Cardoso period (1995-2003) as a means to build up context. This is a qualitative, bibliographical and documental work that has also benefited from extensive field research in the United States, including in-depth interviews with think tank and Brazilian studies experts.