A posição do Brasil na América do Sul: uma análise dos discursos presidenciais na Assembleia Geral da ONU de 2011 a 2022

Abstract

South American integration has always had an emphasis in Brazilian foreign policy. However, government leaders have different views on the relevance of the region for Brazil's international insertion. In this sense, the international and domestic political situation in the 2010s influenced significant changes in Brazil's position and actions in relation to regional integration. This paper analyzes Brazil's position on South American integration from 2011 to 2022, investigating how this position was expressed in the presidential speeches delivered at the opening of the General Debate of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). The research adopts the methodology of thematic content analysis, as proposed by Laurence Bardin (1977), to examine the speeches. It also uses the Message to the National Congress booklets as a complementary source to explore the concrete integration actions carried out by presidents Dilma Rousseff (2011-2016), Michel Temer (2016-2018) and Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022), verifying the coherence between practice and discourse. Each of these governments adopts a different conception of Brazil's role in the South American context, evidenced both in their actions and in their pronouncements. Despite the differences, in all cases there has been a reduction in regional activism and the centrality of the region in Brazilian foreign policy.