Peripheral or strategic? The border condition of the amazon frontier in Brazil

Abstract

The objective of this article was to discuss the border condition of the Brazilian Amazon between the 20th and 21st centuries from its peripheral and strategic behavior. The guiding question was: how is the border condition configured through the peripheral/strategic behavior of frontier spaces in the Amazon region of Brazil? The methodological approach was the hypothetical-deductive based on three investigation strategies; qualitative analysis of documents, review of specialized literature and fieldwork observations. The results indicate that the Amazon frontier cannot be considered peripheral or strategic in isolation. These two adjectives qualify specific historical, political and economic uses that need to be considered together to understand the border condition of the Brazilian Amazon. We conclude that the peripheral/strategic behavior reveals not only the historical-economic construction of the border, but also the choice of national decision-making centers, reflected in the public policies implemented in the region.