Times of Reorientation: Brazilian Foreign Policy and Foreign Trade between 1964 and 1979

Abstract

The article addresses the reorientation of Brazilian foreign policy during the civil-military dictatorship, which began in 1964 and lasted until 1985. After the coup, Castelo Branco's dictatorial government began a process of automatic alignment with the United States, opposing the previous Independent Foreign Policy. Artur da Costa e Silva's government was marked by the "Diplomacy of Prosperity," which represented a rupture in relation to the previous government and sought to change the "unfair rules of the international system." Under Emílio Garrastazu Médici, the "National Interest Diplomacy" represented a setback in relation to the previous one, and with Ernesto Geisel's government, Brazilian foreign policy reached its peak with the "Ecumenical and Responsible Pragmatism," approaching the Independent Foreign Policy of Jânio and Jango. The article uses document and bibliographic analysis as a methodology to understand changes in Brazilian foreign trade during the civil-military dictatorship period. It is concluded that the changes that occurred during the civil-military dictatorship constituted a gradual and sometimes setback-laden process of reorientation of Brazilian foreign policy, which peaked during the analyzed period from 1964 to 1979 and impacted Brazilian foreign trade at the time.