Authoritarian Diplomacy: the participation of Brazil's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the authoritarian project of the Military Regime (1964 - 1985)

• Grant number: 19/15281-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: October 01, 2019
• End date: September 30, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - History of Brazil
• Principal Investigator: Felipe Pereira Loureiro
• Grantee: Alessandra Beber Castilho
• Supervisor: Anthony Wynne Pereira
• Host Institution: Instituto de Relações Internacionais (IRI). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: King's College London, England
• Associated to the scholarship: 17/18513-5 - Ideology, bureaucracy and foreign policy: the Itamaraty and the Armed Forces during the Brazilian military dictatorship (1964-1985), BP.DR

Abstract

This project aims to understand the role of the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, known as Itamaraty, during the Brazilian military dictatorship (1964-1985). The specialized literature tends to assume that Itamaraty's autonomy vis-à-vis the Brazilian Armed Forces during military rule was due both to its institutional structure, which is similar to the one seen in the military, as to the idea that Itamaraty does not involve itself in political-ideological disputes, worryingonly about foreign affairs, thus conducting a State policy that lies above the interests of specific governments. This project puts forward the hypothesis that such autonomy was only possible due to the adherence of some diplomats to the authoritarian project of the military regime. To confirm this hypothesis, we intent to conduct a case study that will show how Brazilian diplomacy accomplished to evade accusations of human rights violations by the Brazilian state in international forums such as the Inter-American Comission on Human Rights and the United Nations Human Rights Commission. Also, we will analyze how Itamaraty acted to legitimize the military regime through its existence, thus filling a gap in the literature of the period.