A influência ruralista na política externa do governo Bolsonaro

Abstract

This paper analyzes the influence of the Ruralists in the foreign policy of the Bolsonaro government (2019-2022). Initially, a reflection about the role of social classes in Foreign Policy Analysis is carried out, understanding its importance in distributive conflicts and, from a Marxist perspective, an approach for analysis of social classes in foreign policy is made for the study. Then, the Ruralists are defined as the political manifestation of the rural

bourgeoisie, controlling the means of production in agribusiness, and the world political- economic context in which it operates as well as its main class organizations are presented.

With this definition, we study the previous analysis of agribusiness in Brazilian foreign policy and reflect on the economic growth and political organization of the sector in Brazil. It is argued, then, that these two factors were leveraged by the political-economic crisis unleashed in the country from 2015 on and enabled Ruralists to hold huge influence over the executive. This power enabled them to exercise a prominent position in the foreign policy of the Temer governments and, above all, Bolsonaro. Analyzing this last government, it is presented how the strength of the Ruralists and the sympathy of the government have intensified the governmental effort to meet the demands of agribusiness in the external context, even when there are distributive losses to other sectors of the national economy. Despite this, it is demonstrated how actions guided by the ideological wing of the government itself prevented progress in negotiations of interest of the Ruralists and meant risks for the sector. The hypothesis presented is that, unlike internal issues in which the government has greater capacity for direct action, in the logic of international relations the negative image of the government interferes with its ability to negotiate externally. Thus, although the Ruralists used their political force to, in practice, moderate the government’s foreign policy and prevent further trade losses, it was in this area that most tensions between the sector and the government arose. Finally, the meaning of this greater Ruralist influence in Brazilian foreign policy is evaluated, arguing that it can reinforce a dependent insertion of the country in the international political economy and expand a logic of problematic consumption from the environmental, sanitary and ethical points of view