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chapter fourteen Brazil Monica Hirst The U.S. presence as a superpower in Brazil has been a fact of life since the end of World War II. All through the second half of the twentieth century the United States was regarded by Brazilian elites as the most important power factor in world affairs. The strategic constraints imposed by a bipolar system compelled Brazil not to treat the United States as an adversary, although on many occasions Brazil expected much more in the realm of economic support from it. When anti-American sentiments were expressed in Brazil, they tended to be linked mostly to economic nationalism. Defense and military matters were rarely a source of contention. Recently new international and domestic realities, such as the end of the cold war, financial and trade globalization, which has increased Brazil’s economic exposure, and the growing importance of domestic public opinion as a consequence of the deepening of democracy, have reshaped perceptions in Brazil. In this context the consolidation of U.S. military superiority in world affairs has made political, bureaucratic, academic, business, and social organizations as well as the military in Brazil wary. To the United States Brazil matters quite little in world politics and international security, especially when compared to crucial U.S. allies such as Canada and Great Britain or to other world powers such as France, India, and Russia. Yet, the reverse is not the case. Brazil keeps a permanent watch on the United States and what it does in world politics. In making its foreign policy decisions, Brazil always assesses the costs and benefits of convergence or conflict with the United States. Brazil has become more cautious in the face of unipolar world politics, particularly since September 11, 2001. State-to-state political relations between the United States and Brazil primarily aim for prudent coexistence, possible collaboration , and minimal collision. While the United States moves ahead in its attempt to consolidate its increasingly contested power, Brazil searches for a secure and legitimate economic and political platform in South America. In the context of an asymmetric power structure, Brazil’s influence is constrained by its irrelevance to the American strategy of preserving its preeminent 280 Brazil 281 global position. Hence Brazil’s marginality within the American foreign policy framework limits the importance of hard politics per se in the relationship between the two countries. Although the United States regards Brazil’s stance on world politics to be irrelevant to its concerns, the same cannot be said of its view of Brazil’s position in regional politics, particularly in South America. Even though this region has been a safe sphere of influence for the United States, Washington has very slowly acknowledged that Brazil is crucial to stability and peace in the area. Under post-1990 democratic rule Brazil has expanded its regional security role, even though Brasilia has repeatedly refused to let mutual interests between itself and Washington force it into a blank check alignment with the United States. Meanwhile, the United States has become more open to the idea that Brazil expects more than just a say in South American politics. In response Brazilian foreign policy has become more receptive to the positive aspects of the global presence of the United States as well as more accepting of the pros of hegemonic stability (Lins 2005). Brazil’s precondition for bilateral relations with the United States is that Washington recognize that the country has a unique identity and a promising future. Brazil has once again made explicit its expectation that the United States should acknowledge the country’s distinctive identity both in South America and in the international system. Also the idea of the inauguration of “new eras,” frequently applied to domestic politics, has been mirrored in Brazil’s relationship with the United States. In this regard it is worth noting that both Brazil and the United States have expectations that have been unmet, even if in the past Brazil has more or less done what the United States has asked. A very important point, particularly regarding the thesis of this book, is the fact that economic matters are more important in U.S.–Brazil relations than political and security matters. Brazilians express nationalistic sentiments that could push them to contest U.S. hegemony and/or cause them to adopt anti-American stances more in reaction to U.S. coercive trade policies and to U.S. pressure on local economic policies than to the prominence of...

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