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Financial Integration in the Americas, Changing Geopolitics and Brazilian Foreign Policy20 time came to share Washington’s perspective on political and economic debates. Internationalhegemony then, is achieved through the flow of ideas across state boundaries andthe acceptance of these ideas. When these ideas were challenged or rejected the UnitedStates had a range of alternative measures it could adopt ranging from a degree of coercionto outright violence. Across the Americas, for great part of the twentieth century, the UnitedStates exercised hegemonic power.For Gramscian IR scholars, hegemonic orders are not just about State-State relationships,the relationship between the State and civil society is a key dynamic (Devetak, 1996). Thenature of institutions is seen as crucial to understanding development in international politics.Our focus in previous work was on the financial markets and how, as an institution,they can have a tangible impact on international political economy. Here we are seekingto ascertain whether or not financial markets believe there has been a shift in the politicaleconomy of South America. That in itself is very interesting, but such a change would alsohave a profound effect. If financial market participants start to belief that the interest ofBrazil’s neighbours and Brazil itself are strongly linked, then de facto, they become stronglylinked. If sovereign bond spreads rise or equity prices fall in Brazil this will start to feed intothe financial system and, in turn, the real economy of those linked countries. This phenomena,driven largely by perception, is labelled contagion.From its inception, Gramscian theory has never simply been about whether or not workingclasses accept the ideology of the ruling class. Cultural production across a range of mediahas been important. In today’s world, financial markets and financial data are an importantcomponent of newsroom output. The financial markets react to political developments andthat reaction itself then becomes news. Therefore for hegemonic power to be accepted itshould be reflected in this key institution.3. The Context of Hemispheric RelationsThe bipolarity of the cold war years added a certain urgency to Washington’s dealings withLatin America as foreign relations came to be seen through the prism of the ideological battlewith the Soviet Union. During this period we see a number of cases of US involvement inthe region, frequently in conflict with left wing governments or insurgencies. However, post1990 we see the US less engaged in Latin America and in the discourse of inter-Americanrelations the idea of security became less pronounced. At the same time the United States’strategic focus increasing fell on the Middle East as radical Islam and not Marxism came tobe seen as the main adversary.Brazil had long coveted the role of regional leadership and, in terms of this ambition, fromthe 1990s onward the environment became more positive. As the influence of the US inSouth America had dissipated somewhat, the other countries in the region looked favourablyon regional projects, moreover Brazil’s potential as an economic power was becomingGCG GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY - UNIVERSIA SEPTIEMBRE-DICIEMBRE 2011 VOL. 5 NUM. 3 ISSN: 1988-7116pp: 16-29
Finbarr Murphy & Martin Mullisplain to see. Over the course of the 1990s trading and investment patterns in the nationsof the Southern Cone became more diversified. Asia became an important export destination,and Europe, the principle source of foreign direct investment. Intraregional trade alsobecame an important consideration. The overall result was that the traditional dependenceon the United States was diluted.21During the mid-to late-1990s, we see the beginning of a trend whereby the WashingtonConsensus began to unravel. Panizza cites the Summit of the Americas in 1994 in providinga definition of the Washington Consensus as the pursuance of prosperity through open markets,hemispheric integration and sustainable development (Panizza, 2009). It is importantto note that the Washington Consensus was always an evolving paradigm but it did reflectthe liberal free market economics so dominant in the United States. Furthermore, there wereserious consequences for any State in Latin America that challenged free market orthodoxy,in other words, the United States would exact a price for policy sets that were perceived ascontrary to its interests. By the late 1990s, there was a growing sense of frustration and disappointmentwith the results of the Washington Consensus and so contemporaneous withthe decline of US political influence in South America, we see a growing tendency towardsmore independent economic thinking across the region. Part of this change saw a moveaway from notions of a hemispheric free trade area towards a regionalism that embraced theidea of South America. Historically, this was a propitious moment for the Brazilian foreignpolicy establishment who had long feared that hemispheric free trade would result in themarginalisation of the region and would leave little opportunity to develop Brazilian influencein the region. A combination of more open debt markets, favourable commodity prices andpolitical stability meant that Brazil could pursue a more autonomous set of policies and firmlyresist hemispheric free trade.4. Brazilian Foreign PolicyThe Itamaraty (the Foreign Ministry) has a long history of autonomy within the Brazilian politicalestablishment and those occupying other parts of the political system rarely challenge itspolicies. The Itamaraty had, over the years, secured a high degree of control over policymakingand their influence extended into other parts of government.Decisions in Brazil regarding international trade are not taken by the trade minister or bythe finance minister, as might be expected, but by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Itamaraty)(Wahrendroft Caldas 1998, p.xxi).To some extent, the foreign policy establishment was insulated from outside forces. Thefragmentation of the political parties in Brazil tended to mitigate against a firm foreign policyemanating from Congress. In comparison with Argentina, the Brazilian elite governed a lessdemocratic country and so was insulated, to some extent, against popular opinion (Escudé& Fontana, 1998, p. 76).GCG GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY - UNIVERSIA SEPTIEMBRE-DICIEMBRE 2011 VOL. 5 NUM. 3 ISSN: 1988-7116pp: 16-29
Page 1 and 2: Revista cuatrimestral Four-monthly
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