Brazil and the Malvinas War - an analysis of the brazilian decision-making process

Abstract

The article aims to analyze the formulation of the Brazilian Foreign Policy in the context of the Malvinas War (1982), focusing on the understanding of the position adopted by the most relevant actors in this process. Thus, the present study seeks to understand the Brazilian diplomatic option for “imperfect neutrality”, as well as to identify and analyze the influence of the actors involved in the process of formulation and implementation of the foreign policy regarding the conflict. It is argued that the Brazilian government acted constrained by the internal conjecture and its historical bilateral relations with Argentina, as well as the centrality of the austral country to the Figueiredo’s government and the peculiar characteristics of the Brazilian Foreign Affairs Ministry. In this sense, the identification of the “decision-making unit” prevalent in structuring the national positioning regarding the Anglo-Argentine dispute under analysis emerges as an important variable for the understanding of the country's position throughout the work.

Keywords

• foreign policy analysis
• malvinas war
• brazil-argentina bilateral relations