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A False Start on the Road to Mercosur: Reinterpreting Rapprochement Failure between Argentina and Brazil, 1972

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2022

Christopher Darnton
Christopher Darnton*
Affiliation:
Catholic University
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Abstract

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To understand the momentous transformation in Argentine-Brazilian relations from rivalry to Mercosur, scholars need to analyze negative cases, when rapprochement was attempted unsuccessfully. This article examines the failed 1972 summit between Presidents Alejandro Agustín Lanusse and Emílio Garrastazú Médici, which is poorly explained by existing theories of international relations and overlooked or misinterpreted in many regional histories. I argue, based on research in the Argentine Foreign Ministry Archives, newly declassified US government documents, and a reexamination of published primary sources, that rapprochement failed in 1972 primarily because bureaucratic interests in the armed forces and foreign ministries of both states depended on the continuation of rivalry. Organizational politics, not popular nationalism or presidential diplomatic errors, best explains the persistence of Argentine-Brazilian conflict in the early 1970s. Successful cooperation between rivals therefore may require not only agreement between national leaders but also the support of the state apparatus on both sides.

Resumo

Resumo

Para entender la transformación trascendental de las relaciones argentino-brasileñas desde la rivalidad hasta el Mercosur, se necesita analizar los casos negativos, en los cuales se intentó, sin éxito, forjar el acercamiento. Este artículo se enfoca en la cúpula fallida de 1972 entre los presidentes Alejandro Agustín Lanusse y Emilio Garrastazú Médici, mal explicada por las teorías existentes de relaciones internacionales y omitida o mal interpretada en varias historias regionales. Sostengo, basado en la investigación en el Archivo Histórico de la Cancillería Argentina, en documentos oficiales estadounidenses recién desclasificados, y en una reexaminación de fuentes primarias ya publicadas, que se fracasó en el acercamiento de 1972 primariamente porque los intereses burocráticos de las fuerzas armadas y las cancillerías de ambos países dependían de la continuación de la rivalidad. La política organizacional, no el nacionalismo popular ni los errores de la diplomacia presidencial, explica mejor la duración del conflicto argentino-brasileño en la primera mitad de los setenta. El acercamiento exitoso entre rivales, pues, puede exigir no solamente el acuerdo entre los jefes de estado sino también el apoyo del aparato estatal de ambos lados.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 47 , Issue 2 , 2012 , pp. 120 - 143
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 by the Latin American Studies Association

Footnotes

Earlier versions of this research were presented at the 2010 International Studies Association conference and the University of Washington International Security Colloquium; research funding came from the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies, Program in Latin American Studies, and Bobst Center for Peace and Justice. I thank Jeremy Adelman, Tom Christensen, Jason Davidson, Evan Lieberman, Jason Lyall, Sean McEnroe, Jon Mercer, Andrew Moravcsik, Rebecca Szper, and the three anonymous LARR reviewers for their comments, and the staff of the Archivo Histórico de la Cancillería Argentina for their assistance and hospitality.

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