The defense in Brazilian foreign policy: the South American Defense Council and the National Strategy of Defense

Abstract

The publishing of some Defense documents, such as the National Defense Policy and the National Defense Strategy (END), following the Defense White Paper and the constitution of the South American Defense Council (CDS) were a proof of maturity and solidity of Brazilian Foreign Policy. In this article we defend that the clear determination of Lula da Silva’s presidency managed to coordinately harmonize the two Foreign Policy grammars (diplomatic and strategic) in a way that the North American ambassador would call “smart power”. Here we analyze the END’s contents, trying to understand its significance for the national defense device, as well as the process of regional CDS making, both instruments used to place Brazil in an “active and lofty” international insertion – according to chancellor Celso Amorim. In the analysis of these devices we try to clarify the emergency of the clash between the administrative inertia of the Foreign Policy’s specific bureaucracy and the Executive Branch’s impulsive goal to place the country on international prominent position.