Brazil

Abstract

After the civil-military dictatorship (1964–1985), the Brazilian re-democratization process coincided with a “double divorce.” The first was between foreign policy and defense policy, the second between military and civilian authorities. It was only in the aftermath of the inauguration of the 1988 Constitution that the Brazilian federal government began constructing a bridge between these two public policies, their respective administrations, and attendant constituencies under the aegis of a democratic regime. Cardoso’s government began implementing a strategy aimed at placing the armed forces under civilian control. But it was during Lula’s and Rousseff’s subsequent administration’s that they laid out a “sketch of Brazil’s grand strategy,” interrupted by Rousseff’s 2016 controversial impeachment.Â?In this context, we analyze the main challenges concerning the conception and the implementation of Brazil’s grand strategy between 2003 and 2014, thus demonstrating how Brazil’s domestic politics and its development model together played key roles in this process.