Ideas of State in dispute: an analysis of FHC and Lula governments through the diplomacy agent's action

• Grant number: 15/20610-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: January 01, 2016
• End date: July 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Sociology - Other specific Sociologies
• Principal Investigator: Roberto Grün
• Grantee: Leandro Garcez Targa
• Supervisor: Frederic Lebaron
• Host Institution: Centro de Educação e Ciências Humanas (CECH). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ), France
• Associated to the scholarship: 13/03048-4 - Ideas of State in dispute: an analysis of FHC and Lula governments through the diplomacy agent's action., BP.DR

Abstract

The thesis being made analyzes the diplomacy of the Brazilian state focusing during the transition period between the governments of Fernando Henrique Cardoso (FHC) and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (Lula). For this we are studying the actions of diplomats linked to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MRE) and Rio Branco Institute (IRBr), institutions that have the monopoly on the formulation of Brazilian foreign policy, selection and training of Brazilian diplomats. The main objective of this work is to study the Brazilian state transformations in the period through one of its aspects: the formulation and conduct of foreign policy. The theoretical basis of analysis is the sociology of Pierre Bourdieu few used in research on diplomats and Brazilian diplomacy. From this theoretical perspective, we designed the diplomacy of the Brazilian state and its institutions as the field of the diplomats of Brazilian state. This field is made up of agents who are in constant struggle to control the conversion criteria of social capital, economic, political in symbolic capital, and so reach the top of the field hierarchy. The main working hypothesis is that the Brazilian foreign policy is the result of these internal disputes of the field of diplomats, which are influenced by (while influencing) the relational dynamics of two other diplomats areas of activity: the metafield the power, the state, and the metafield of international relations. Understanding the field of diplomats presupposes making a relational historical analysis of the field and its agents. From that beginning, we studied mainly two "games" field of the diplomats a) the discussions on the formation of the FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas); b) changes in the selection process for entry into IRBr in the transition of the governments of former presidents cited. We are making a prosopography compared the main actors of the field involved in these two games. The research stage planned and exposed in this project will be of fundamental importance to the development of ongoing research. Professor Frederic Lebaron is an expert in Bourdieu's theory, especially on studies of Sociology of Elites, Political Sociology and Research Methodology. Lebaron is a researcher who has already done various activities with Nesefi in São Carlos, including participating in the debate that originated this research, in 2012. The research stage with Professor Lebaron allow the scholar also contact the Laboratoire Printemps (Professions, Institutions, Temporalités) a UMR (unité mixte de recherche) in Sociology from the CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) and the Université Versailles St-Quentin-en-Yvelines. The contact of the scholar with others researchers, seminars and the Laboratoire Printemps librarie, as much as with others research centers of Paris and the rest of Europe, will fill an important research gap on the field of diplomats thats will not find many partners in Brazil.