AS SHIFTS ON THE STRATEGIC MEANINGS GIVEN TO MERCOSUR BY BRAZILIAN FOREIGN POLICY (1985-2002)

DA REDEMOCRATIZAÇÃO (1985) À CRISE BRASILEIRO-ARGENTINA (1999-2002)

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the shifts on the strategic meanings given to Mercosur by Brazilian foreign policy from 1985 to 2002. In this sense, the exam is not concentrated chronologically from the Treaty of Asunción signature in 1991 on, but also since the bilateral approximation between Brazil and Argentina initiated in the mid-1980s. In sequence, the way Mercosur was approached by the Brazilian diplomacy in the administration of Presidents Fernando Collor de Melo, Itamar Franco e Fernando Henrique Cardoso are related to the main trends of the foreign policy adopted by each of them, in order to give sense to what can be considered a first cycle of raising and falling expectations about the success of Southern Cone regional integration (1985-2002).