Abstract:
Based on recently declassified documentation, the article discusses the making of Brazilian arms sales policy - especially for major weapons -, exploring continuities and changes over time. The paper discusses an effort by the actors to make a more effective link between the defense industry, arms sales, and Brazilian foreign policy. The decision-making process in question resulted in the approval of the guidelines for a Política Nacional de Exportação de Material de Emprego Militar- Pnemem, in 1974. The approval of this export control and regulation mechanism coincided with the beginning of an important cycle of arms sales that placed Brazil as one of the main international actors in the matter. The article concludes that research on Brazilian foreign policy - especially with respect to international security and strategic issues- need to incorporate new analyses based on primary evidence. Future research would also value from the use of concepts derived from institutionalism, national-developmentalism, the defense industrial base and the Cold War in Latin America.
Keywords:
Brazil, defense industrial base, international security, foreign policy analysis, decision-making process; Latin America’s Cold War