A Constitucionalização da inserção internacional do Brasil: momento e tradição

Abstract

Article 4 of the Federal Constitution of 1988 brought an institutional innovation in defining the basic principles of the Brazilian State in its international relations. These principles were the fruit of a broad debate within the framework of the 1987-1988 National Constituent Assembly, which involved constituent parliamentarians, representatives of the Itamaraty and Brazilian civil society. In the period of the re democratization of Brazil, during the 1980s, the country was simultaneously experiencing a democratic euphoria and a severe economic crisis, as well as changes in the post-Cold War international order. It is in this scenario that the public hearings on the international relations of Brazil took place during the Constituent Assembly, with the marked presence of Brazilian civil society. Like civil entities, Itamaraty representatives also participated in these public hearings in order to preserve traditional principles of Brazilian foreign policy. It was from these discussions that Article 4 of the Federal Constitution was defined. With this, it is possible to perceive that the context of changes in the internal and external scenario and the tradition of the Brazilian foreign policy are elements that influenced the promulgation of the mentioned article. In view of this, the present research seeks to point out the influence of the moment and the tradition in the process of constitutionalisation of the international insertion of Brazil. Although the regency of international affairs in Brazil is a competence of the Executive, it is also necessary to know the vision of the three branches of the Republic on the said article, since both are subject to the constitutional dictates of article 4, as well as the role that each power has to play in Brazil's international relations.