Desenvolvimento e integração internacional: os casos de Brasil e México

Abstract

In this research work, we analyze the process of development and international integration of Brazil and México between 1990 and 2012. Our research was grounded in specialized bibliography and secondary data, which was analyzed thru qualitative and quantitative methods in order to produce a descriptive-explicative narrative on the recent trajectories of these two countries regarding economic development and international integration. Those nations entered the 1990s emerging from a number of similar events and social structures, when Mexico performed better than Brazil, both economically and concerning to international autonomy. Then, in 2012, the countries inverted positions, since Brazil yielded better results in both dimensions. We advocate that this inversion happened due the fact that the Mexican Government insisted in neoliberal reforms, whereas in Brazil, although the 1990’s Governs performed such reforms, it had slightly changed between 2003 and 2012. In parallel, Mexico joined NAFTA as its poorer and less important nation, while Brazil joined MERCOSUL as its wealthier and preeminent component.