Economia brasileira e modelos de inserção internacional

Abstract

One of the tools available to policymakers in the practice of the economic objectives is foreign policy, materialized in the country’s international insertion model (in a broad sense). Although it is not per se a component of GDP, foreign policy can be used to make economic growth dynamics possible, through the prompting of the elements that make up the National Product. This can be done directly via, for instance, foreign trade stricto sensu; or, in a subsidiary way, by means of the loosening of external restrictions on GDP. In addition to these easily traceable gains, foreign policy also has the ability of bequeath intangible returns to the country, which, albeit having barely obvious economic definitions, by all means impact the country’s position vis-à-vis its peers in the International Community. This work aims to analyze the interrelationships between the economy and the paradigms of international insertion. Specifically, it seeks to clarify the role of the foreign policy among the causes of Brazilian economic growth at the moments when Brazil increased faster than the developed countries; and to explore, in the foreign policy model of each of these moments, what was overwhelmingly pursued: the search for international credibility, or the search for autonomy regarding dominant powers. For this purpose, this dissertation identified, since 1850, in which periods the growth rate of the Brazilian per capita GDP overcame, for at least five years, the average of the rates of the fifteen main developed countries. Having uncovered these periods, the next step was to examine the causes of economic growth at each historical moment, and the influence of foreign policy on the Product expansion. Lastly, this work qualified the model of international insertion used by governments in terms of their traits of "autonomy" or "credibility". The conclusion reached was that the international actions put in place in each period contributed to the materialization of economic results, whether in protecting the national economy in conjunctures in which the income of the developed countries shrank more than that of Brazil, or in fostering the components of GDP, when Brazil grew up faster than the developed countries. Furthermore, it was found that the foreign policy paradigm mainly applied in moments of Brazilian prosperity was the search for autonomy one, which – taking into account this impact of this paradigm on the causes of economic growth – pointed to the possibility of this model being endowed with greater efficiency, including in economic sense.