A política externa do governo Bolsonaro para o Mercosul

Abstract

Since its creation and throughout its different phases, Mercosur has been an important factor in Brazil's international presence, especially as a means for the country to express its interests in the South American region. The bloc, both in its periods of predominance of the original commercialist approach and in phases of broader integration, has become one of Brazil's main channels of contact with South America and a relevant platform for articulating and defending the country's position on the international stage. Considering the reorientation of foreign policy that Jair Bolsonaro sought to bring to Brazil during his mandate and the ideological bias that marked his government, this undergraduate thesis aims to understand how Mercosur was perceived by the Bolsonaro administration regarding its function and relevance to Brazilian foreign policy, while also analyzing Brazil's official participation in the bloc during this period. Using official documents from Brazil and Mercosur, as well as speeches and interviews by former President Jair Bolsonaro and his foreign ministers, Ernesto Araújo and Carlos França, the study investigates whether Brazil displayed isolationist tendencies toward the bloc and examines if and how the Bolsonaro government departed with the conception of Mercosur in Brazilian foreign policy that had been established during center-left administrations. This thesis points to a lack of interest in Mercosur by the Bolsonaro government and indicates a rupture with the principles that guided regional integration during center-left governments.