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International Relations National Tradition in Brazil or How to Academically Juggle with Globalization1

Audrey Alejandro (Science Po Bordeaux) - [email protected]

Paper presented at the XXIInd World Congress of Political Science, Madrid, 8-12 July 2012

International Relations International Relations International Relations International Relations

Introduction

As the concept of globalisation challenges various core aspects of political science such as the classical division between the national and inter-national2, its use has raised several problems for the traditional analysis of national and international politics. However, more than one hundred years after its apparition,3 the concept of globalisation is now present in of the most diverse literature of world affairs as to become a common sense phenomenon. 4 Thus, feeling the pitfalls of this success story, some scholars like Susan Strange have called for a more rigorous usage of the concept than “a term which can refer to anything from the Internet to a hamburger”.5

Dealing with the growing inter-connectedness of social sciences different national scientific fields, this question of the operationalization of the concept of globalisation is still largely unexplored. Most of the specialized literature has tended to take the national scientific developments as the framework of analysis. According

1 The article submission proposed to do a comparison between the Indian and Brazilian tradition of International Relations. However, due to time constraint, the data collected for the Indian part appeared insufficient in comparison to the Brazilian one. It therefore appeared to us more interesting to focus on the Brazilian case study. As the fieldwork initiated in April and was completed at the end of May, the last interviews were made only a few days before starting the redaction of the article. A more detailed study of the results as well as complementary investigations will be necessary in order for those data to be better integrated into a more analytical framework. Please consider this article a preliminary attempt to organise the material collected during these two months’ fieldwork. 2For an outlook on the resistance to the concept of globalisation see for example Clark, Ian, Globalization and International Relations Theory, Oxford University Press, 216 p. 3O’ rourke, Kevin H. and Williamson, Jeffrey G., Globalization and History: The Evolution of a Nineteenth-Century, Atlantic Economy, Cambridge, Mass., The MIT Press, 1999, p. 5. 4For example of analysis in different areas of investigation such as politics, environment, public health, terrorism and poverty see: Young, Oran R., Governance in world affairs. Ithaca and London, Cornell University Press, 1999; Jasanoff, Sheila and Long Martello, Marybeth (eds.), Earthly Politics: Local and Global in Environmental Governance. Cambridge, Mass, MIT Press, 2004; Cooper, Andrew, Kirton John, and Schrecker, Ted (eds.), Governing global health: challenge, response, Innovation, Aldershot, Ashgate, 2007; Booth, Ken and Dunne, Tim, Worlds in collision: terror and the future global order, Basingstoke, Palgrave, 2002; Vandersluis, Sarah Owen and Yeros, Paris (eds.), Poverty in world politics: whose global era?, Basingstoke, Macmillan, 2000. 5Strange, Susan, The Retreat of the State, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1996, p. xiii.


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to this interpretation, scientific fields first seem to have defined themselves on a national scale before connecting one to each other from this base in a process of internationalisation.

Through the study of the case of the discipline of International Relations (IR) in Brazil, this presentation puts forward the interest of a multi-scale analysis in understanding the construction of the field of International Relations. Indeed, the competition that opposes agents in the control of the legitimate tradition appears to be intertwined in subnational, national and global levels. It would do so by interrogating three postulates on which the specialised literature commonly relies: the national as a main framework of analyse, the impersonal nature of internationalisation processes, and the passive character of the actors confronting globalisation dynamics.

The case of International Relations in Brazil indeed offers an interesting insight into the study of the interplay between social sciences national traditions and globalisation. Indeed, the exploration of the effects of globalisation on the discipline that studies globalisation in a country whose status is being highly transformed by globalisation might highlight some of the variables occurring in this process. Following the work of Marion Fourcade, analysing the co-construction of economists as a global profession and the globalisation of economics6, I will analyse how sociology of science may help to understand the complex interaction occurring between IR tradition in Brazil, the transnationalisation of IR professional practice and the very globalisation process in which this country is now engaged. In less than thirty years, Brazil has turned itself from an inward looking dictatorship to an “emerging global power”, with great changes occurring both in domestic and foreign policy. This rapid transformation gives us the opportunity to interrogate the elements affecting Brazilian IR organization.

Firstly, I will expose some of the concepts and methodology on which relies this research. Secondly, a comparative analysis between the state of Brazilian IR tradition before and after the opening of the Brazilian to major global influence will be done. Finally, I will propose three avenues of research in order to assess the relation between globalisation and the transformation of Brazilian IR tradition.

I. Conceptual and methodological construction

In sociology of science, the dynamics of globalisation are still largely unexplored for studying the sociological and cognitive logics determining the production and the organization of research. Dealing with this study, the added value of the concept of globalisation seems to lie in its capacity to capture the existence of dynamics linking directly individuals to forces that partly autonomously from national determinations. “Rather than growing interdependence between discrete bounded national states, or internationalization as the sceptics refer to it, the concept of globalization seeks to capture the dramatic shift that is underway in the organization of human affairs: from a world of discrete but interdependent national states to the world as a shared social space. The concept of globalization therefore carries with it the implication of an

6“By showing how [the economics profession] very internationalism feeds into the intellectual and professional dynamics of economics”, she proposes “a dialectic and dynamic framework that takes into account changes in the object of diffusion itself.” Her work therefore highlights how from an historical situation where national boundaries impeded the transnationalization of economic activities, we have entered a period when “many of the competitive mechanisms that drive professional development in economics are taking place at the global level.” Fourcade, Marion, “The Construction of a global profession: The transnationalization of Economics”, AJS, Vol. 112, No.1, July 2006, pp. 147-48 & p. 180.


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unfolding process of structural change in the scale of human social and economic organization.” 7 From this perspective, the concept of globalization offers an interesting alternative to traditional analyses as it captures the existence of processes that directly link individuals operating at sub-national levels to dynamics operating partly autonomously from national determinations. However, the heuristic character of the concept of globalisation cannot be admitted a priori. As shown by the second part, it is only by operationalizing it through empirical investigation that it will be possible to conclude whether or not this concept represents an efficient device for the case under scrutiny.

A second interrogation seems to result naturally from this one: what should we choose as a unit of analysis when studying the effects and processes of globalisation for the discipline of International Relations? In this presentation, I propose to explore the concept of tradition and more specifically of national tradition.8 According to Heilbron, sociology has developed three main interpretations of what can be considered as a national tradition: 1) a local tradition that has institutionalised nationally; 2) ways of thinking that do not apply only to one discipline; 3) even larger ways of thinking than national disciplines configurations or domain of research. 9 The difficulty to operationalize this type of definitions in the framework of a sociological analysis of global processes led me to re-think the concept of tradition using an anthropological perspective. Two aspects of the anthropological definition of tradition appears relevant for our issue:

- “What from the past remains in the present when it is transmitted and keeps being effective and accepted by whom receive it, and will transmit it again” 10

- “What one has to do or know in a group, which, by doing so, recognises or imagines itself as a long-standing collective identity; the important thing not being to rationally justifying the obligation but rather to (believe) being conforming it correctly.”11

Following this, the concept of tradition offers a valuable historical perspective on scientific fields’ analyses in the same vein as Pierre Bourdieu’s. The field theory is a relational approach to social structures; therefore a social field needs to be understood as networks, or configurations of relations that exist objectively between different positions.12 The nature and extent of the field are defined by the area in which the specific forces that operate in the field have effects. Those forces are what distinguish fields from one another. Identified by Bourdieu as the 'specific capital' of the field, they represent at the same time both the tool used to exist in the field and what is at stake for the agents trying to exert power and influence.13 Different sorts of capital exist (the most famous of them being the economic capital), but each field tends to mobilise a certain 7 McGrew Anthony, “Globalization and global politics”, in BAYLIS, John et SMITH, Steve, (eds), The Globalization of World Politics: an introduction to international relations, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2004), p. 21.

8 As for the concept of globalisation, the relevance of the national level of analysis needed to be confirmed through empirical investigation. In the case of Brazil, the sociological and discursive relations between IR and foreign policy as well as the role of federal agencies in shaping the professional organisation of the discipline have represented key factors in this election. 9Heilbron, Johan, “Qu'est-ce qu'une tradition nationale en sciences sociales?”, Revue d'Histoire des Sciences Humaines, 2008, Vol. 1, No. 18, pp. 8-9. 10 The author’s translation from Izard, Michel & Bonte, Pierre, Dictionnaire de l’ethnologie et de l’anthropologie, Presses Universitaires de France – PUF, p. ? 11 Ibid. 12 Bourdieu Pierre, Réponses : pour une anthropologie réflexive, Paris, Editions du Seuil, 1992, p. 72. � 13 Ibid. p. 74


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kind of capital to the detriment of others. The specific capital of scientific fields is the scientific capital. It is symbolic by nature since it is based on knowledge and recognition. Scholars give credit to other scholars that fit best with what they consider to be a legitimate scientific practice. By doing so, they endow the latters with the authority to operate on the social structure of the field. A nomination in a funding commission can for example provide the capacity to act as a gate-keeper in the field and further shape its definition.14 Therefore, as a socio-cognitive practice that is institutionalised and that, without being totally restrictive, will orient professional activity, national tradition represents a stake for actors competing for the legitimation of their own professional practices.

Third, I would like to emphasize some elements about the methodology I used to construct my arguments. The conclusions drawn in this article are the result of the interpretation of 33 biographical interviews I made in Brazil between April and May 2012, representing 53 hours of interview.

The first part of our sample was composed of 23 scholars and 4 PhD candidates from 9 different institutions. In our investigation, I have identified three generations of scholars according to the similarities of their professional trajectories and their different experience of the Brazilian socio-political context: a first generation composed of 9 scholars between 58 to 83 years old, a second generation of 8 scholars between 42 and 55 years old, and a third includes 10 scholars between 26 and 36 years old.15 According to the institutional diversity of Brazilian higher education, I have tried to select interviewees affiliated to the various types of institutions existing in Brazil. Thus, the individuals of the sample belong to nine different institutions: eleven are affiliated to state institutions (Univesidade de São Paulo, Universidade de Campinas, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro), five to a federal institution (Universidade de Brasilia), five to a private confessional institution (Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro) and four to private laic institutions (Instituto Rio Branco, Fundação Getulio Vargas, Centro Universitário de Brasilia).

Geographically, we can note that those institutions are from two different states (São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro) and the Federal District. Time and money constraints impeded me from doing an investigation that could cover more Brazilian states. I therefore chose to focus on the three areas hosting the leading national universities as those universities traditionally had more interaction with the international academic system. This choice is supported in the case of IR as the UnB in Brasilia and the PUC in Rio represent the oldest IR programs in the country. The recent creation of numerous programs of IR in the state of São Paulo, such as the program San Tiago Dantas and the graduate/post-graduate program at USP, makes this state an interesting counter-case. The resources of those states also concur to their election as case study as the majority of IR scholarships benefit to programs in the region Sudeste, and Brasilia benefits from its proximity to the circles of power.16

A second part of our sample was composed by people currently or previously holding responsibilities in national scientific agencies. The three main scientific agencies in Brazil are the Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos (FINEP), the Coordenaçao de Aperfeiçoamento

14 Bourdieu Pierre, Science de la science et réflexivité : cours du Collège de France, 2000-2001, Paris, Raisons d’agir, 2001, p. 70. 15 Out of the seven interviewees, two had a less defined profile. 16 In 2009, the region Sudeste indeed disposed of 50 out of 89 programs and of the majority of the scholarships of the CCPRI. See Breda, Norma & Fonseca, Fulvio Eduardo, “A pos-graduacao em Relacoes Internacionais no Brasil”, Contexto Internacional, Vol. 32, No.2, may/august 2009, p. 356 and p. 370.


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de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES) and the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq). These three agencies represent the principal federal founding and regulating institutions. More specifically, CNPq and FINEP are linked to the Ministry of Science and Technology. The Finep is commonly assimilated to a public bank supporting public and private universities and companies in terms of scientific and tecnhological development. The Cnpq is an agency accompanying the formation of human resources qualified for research. It uses for example incentives such as productivity scholarships. The CAPES - an agency of the Ministry of Education - awards scholarships, evaluates and assesses existing and new post-graduate programs, and organises the internationalisation of post-graduation. Among the members of the academy interviewed, six were also presently or in the past holding responsibilities in those agencies. Four other interviewees not belonging to an IR academy but holding federal scientific responsabilities have also been interviewed. 17

Finallly, a last group of people has been interviewed, it is composed of three diplomats and a vice-dean of university.

II. The multiplication of (national?) traditions

In this part, I will analyse the evolution of International Relations in Brazil by doing a comparison between the state of the national tradition at the beginning of the institutionalization of the discipline and the current situation. I will therefore explore the transformations that have occurred in some of the structuring features of Brazilian IR such as its object, its disciplinary scope and its methodological approaches.

A. Justification for the periods of comparison Among the different periods analysed when studying the opening of Brazil to

globalization, the decade of the 1990’s seems to represent the phase of major transformation.18 Interestingly, before this period, only a few IR programs existed in Brazil: at the University of Brasilia (UnB) where the graduate program began in 1974 and the post-graduate one in 1985, and in PUC Rio, where the programs began in 1979 and in 1987 respectively.

Apart from university programs stricto sensu, other institutions started becoming centres of reflection in International Relations about the same period such as the Centro de Pesquisa e Documentação Contemporânea (CPDOC) da Fundação Getulio Vargas with the creation of its program of International Relations (1980), the Conselho Brasileiro de Relações Internacionais (CEBRI) in 1978, the Núcleo de Estudos Estratégicos da Universidade de Campinas in 1985 etc.. But IR institutionalisation really seems to have taken place during the nineties with what scholars and the specialised literature commonly define as “the explosion” of the discipline. 19

17 Usually informations such as the age and the sex of the interviewees are mentionned when quoting the extracts. Since the field of IR in Brazil is small, interpersonnal and that I’m working in the same domain as the interviewees, I have chosen to keep secret this information to preserve the confidentiality of those who have been kind enough to help me. 18 See for exemple, Faro de Castro, Marcus e Valladão de Carvalho, Maria Izabel, “Globalização e transformações políticas recentes no Brasil : os anos 1990”, Revista de sociologia e politica, No. 18, June 2002, pp. 109-129 or Gennari, Adilson Marques “Globalização, Neoliberalismo e Abertura Econômica no Brasil nos Anos 90”. Revista Pesquisa & Debate, Vol. 13, No. 1 (21), 2002, pp. 30-45. 19 Miyamoto, Shiguenoli, "O ensino das Relações Internacionais no Brasil : problemas e perspectivas”, Revista de Sociologia e Política, Vol. 20, Jun. 2003, p. 113.


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Extract 1 (2nd generation scholar) 20 There is something else that is very interesting which is the following, which is that you end up knowing a lot of people for this stuff of the journal, right? And you end up knowing who is working with whom, what are the emerging values. It’s a very interesting vision of the community. The community of International Relations in Brazil has grown up like instantaneous mass, impressive! Boom! Suddenly, it was like an impressive jump, impressive! Today if you take - I don’t know if you have TV, the cabled chains - but there’s an interview program like they interview the professor So-and-so of some university. “What the ?&@!! Professor So-and-so? I don’t even know who is this professor So-and-so!” Because not so much time ago, you knew everybody! Everybody, a bit relevant, you knew the community. You knew who was supervising whom. Mister So-and-so is linked to mister Such-and-such, it’s right, yeah? Today, things are such a way that we can’t have any notion, there is such a growing up of the community...

Indeed, this second period is characterised by the multiplication of IR programs and the development of research institutions. From a handful of programs existing in the 1980’s, Brazil now counts more than 135 graduate programs.21

In order to assess the evolution of Brazilian IR tradition, two phases will therefore be analysed in order to make the comparison. The first period may be identified as the early institutionalisation of the field and spans from the 1970’s to the mid-1990. The second period, from the mid-nineties to this day represents the phase of expansion and consolidation of the field.

B. (1970-1995): The Stammering Tradition

1. Disciplinary outlines Before the autonomisation of IR as a separate discipline, international questions

were already discussed at the margins of different disciplines such as law, history, economics and political science.22 For example, during the 1970’s, dependence theory – an international political economy approach developed by Brazilian and other South American scholars - seemed to be the work that gained most visibility outside South America. However, the seemingly “inter and multidisciplinary nature”23 of IR appeared to rely more particularly on political science and history. The dual nature of its specialisation has even led some scholars to call for a better understanding of the mechanism of “cross-fertilization” occurring between works inspired by political science (closer in that way to the North American tradition) and those inspired by history of international relations (a Brazilian peculiarity). And as a consequence, Brazilian scholars have discussed whether or not Brazilian IR has followed the US-model where IR represents a sub-discipline of political science.24 20 Interview made in Portuguese, author’s translation, Brasilia. 21 Information collected from the database of the website of the Ministry of Education http://emec.mec.gov.br/ on the 9th of Junen 2012. 22 Lessa, Antônio Carlos, “Instituições, atores e dinâmicas do ensino e da pesquisa em Relações Internacionais no Brasil: o diálogo entre a história, a ciência política e os novos paradigmas de interpretação (dos anos 90 aos nossos dias)”, Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional, Vol. 48, No. 2, p. 2. 23 Ibid. 24 For an illustration of both positions see for example “Por características próprias da institucionalização da área de Relações Internacionais no Brasil, que segue o preponderante padrão norte-americano, em que Ciência Política e Relações Internacionais são áreas acadêmicas de um mesmo departamento” Norma Breda, “História das Relações Internacionais no Brasil: esboço de uma avaliação sobre a área”, História, Vol. 24, No. 1, 2005, p. 19 And “Esse campo não surgiu da ciência política, tal como ocorreu em diversos países, como a Alemanha e os Estados Unidos, mas sim a partir


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Two directions seem worth noting in order to understand the role played by history of international relations for the construction of Brazilian IR tradition in this period. The first movement consists in the transition from diplomatic history to an area of history of international relations more connected to IR dominant international debates. On the one hand, this evolution tended to weaken the traditional apologetic line of diplomatic history.25 On the other, the analysis of classical topics such as Brazilian foreign policy and the historical insertion of the country in the international system started integrating “new actors” 26 and US-oriented frameworks such as decisionary processes in international institutions.27 In this period, a great share of scholars also referred to the French line of inquiry in history of international relations as embodied by Jean-Baptiste Duroselle and his book Introduction à l’Histoire des Relations Internationales.28 Secondly, at the institutional level, the department of History of the Unb, the dominant institution in International Relations at this time, enjoyed from 1976 to 2002 an “area of concentration” specialized in history of international relations. A study of the 168 masters dissertations presented from 1978 to 2002 shows that 53 were belonging to the area of history of international relations, making this History department the most productive site of International Relations in Brazil at that time.29

2. Objects of inquiry Before the 1970’s, Paulo Roberto de Almeida identifies mainly one preliminary

literature dealing with international relations before the professionalization of this field. This area was indeed the domain of predilection of the “diplomats historians”, “an intellectual elite that most of the time was also part of the governmental one”.30 This superposition between History of diplomacy and the practice of diplomacy seems to have largely influenced the constitution of the academic tradition for the first generation of researchers interested in those questions. In the same way, a relative “academization” of diplomats has been mentioned, as these tended to get more involved in academic production due to their personal interest or the need of their formation.31

Indeed, two main topics were dominating the literature in the first 20 years of its institutionalisation: Brazilian foreign policy and the insertion of Brazil into the

da contribuição institucional e substantiva de historiadores, cientistas políticos, especialistas em direito internacional e economistas.” Herz, Mônica, O Crescimento da Área de Relações Internacionais no Brasil, Contexto Internacional, Vol. 24, No. 1, jan./jun. 2002, p. 15. 25 Breda Norma, “História das Relações Internacionais no Brasil: esboço de uma avaliação sobre a área”, História, Vol. 24, No. 1, 2005, p. 14 26 Lessa, Antônio Carlos, “Instituições, atores e dinâmicas do ensino e da pesquisa em Relações Internacionais no Brasil: o diálogo entre a história, a ciência política e os novos paradigmas de interpretação (dos anos 90 aos nossos dias)”, Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional, Vol. 48, No. 2, p. 172. 27 Herz, Mônica, “O Crescimento da Área de Relações Internacionais no Brasil”, Contexto Internacional, Vol. 24, No 1, Jan./Jun. 2002, p. 23. 28 Breda Norma, “História das Relações Internacionais no Brasil: esboço de uma avaliação sobre a área”, História, Vol. 24, No. 1, 2005, p. 18. 29 Ibid. p. 23. 30 Almeida, Paulo Roberto, “Estudos de relações internacionais do Brasil: Etapas da Produção Historiográfica Brasileira, 1927- 1992”, Revista brasileira de Política Internacional, 1993, No. 1, p. 12. 31 Since 1979, the diplomats who wants to become ambassadors need to attend the Curso de Altos Estudos (CAE) of the Instituto Rio Branco. The finalization of this course includes the production of a thesis dissertation. In 2011, 618 thesis had already been written within this program. See Ricupero, Rubens “Prólogo” in Fonseca Jr. ,Gelson, Diplomacia e Academia: um estudo sobre as análises acadêmicas sobre a política externa brasileira na década de 70 e sobre as relações entre o Itamaraty e a comunidade acadêmica. Brasília, Fundação Alexandre de Gusmão, 2011, p. 19.


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international system. 32 This situation led some authors to literally "[identify] in the case of Brazil, the study of international relations with the debate on foreign policy” to show how limited the number of scholars actually were who were working outside of this scope. 33

A study of the master’s and PhD dissertations written in Brazil between 1982 and 1999 indeed shows that the major part of the production deals with the insertion of Brazil into the international system, the formulation of its foreign policy, and bilateral relations (notably with the US and Argentina).34 The only other topic that seems to have generated some interest in this period is regional integration processes and comparative studies between South America and the European union.35 Indeed, classical topics such as strategic and security studies only developed limited production whether it was in the traditional or more sociological inspired perspective. In the same way, studies dealing with institutions and international organizations are very rare.36

3. Perspectives and methodological approaches One of the main characteristics of this period is that the literature remains

largely disconnected from the theoretical and epistemological debates occurring at the global level.37 Moreover, other than dependence theory, very few theoretical works appear to be produced. 38

Indeed, it is rather the historical tradition based on archives material and interpretative works that tends to impose itself in Brazil. 39 As it offered greater opportunities for dialogue with other social sciences, this methodology appeared more “ecumênic” than others for scholars who wanted to go beyond the “insurmountable gap between theory and history”.40 However, various authors insist on the dual character of the methodological tradition at the junction between political science and history influences. This situation led to the coexistence of two styles of academic writing: an idiographic narrative tradition and a nomothetic one.41 Dealing mainly with foreign policy prescription, the nomothetic tradition was explicitly felt as strongly linked to national construction.42 Interestingly, this type of discourse often expressed itself not

32 Herz, Mônica, “O Crescimento da Área de Relações Internacionais no Brasil”, Contexto Internacional, Vol. 24, No. 1, Jan./Jun. 2002, p.16 33 Fonseca, Gelson Jr, “Studies on International Relations in Brazil: Recent Times (1950-80)”, Millennium - Journal of International Studies 1987, Vol.16, 273 34 Herz, Mônica, “O Crescimento da Área de Relações Internacionais no Brasil”, Contexto Internacional, Vol. 24, No. 1, Jan./Jun. 2002, p. 23. 35 Ibid. p. 25. 36 Ibid. p. 26. 37 Ibid. p. 8. 38 Ibid. p. 16. 39 Ibid. p. 16. 40 LESSA, Antônio Carlos, « Instituições, atores e dinâmicas do ensino e da pesquisa em Relações Internacionais no Brasil: o diálogo entre a história, a ciência política e os novos paradigmas de interpretação (dos anos 90 aos nossos dias) », Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional, Vol. 48, No. 2, p. 173. 41 Breda Norma, “História das Relações Internacionais no Brasil: esboço de uma avaliação sobre a área”, História, Vol. 24, No. 1, 2005, p. 19. 42 Fonseca Jr. ,Gelson, Diplomacia e Academia: um estudo sobre as análises acadêmicas sobre a política externa brasileira na década de 70 e sobre as relações entre o Itamaraty e a comunidade acadêmica. Brasília, Fundação Alexandre de Gusmão, 2011, 246 p.


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only from a national standpoint but also from a larger positioning such as a “Southern vision”.43

C. (1995-2012): Toward institutional specialisation

1. Thematic, disciplinary and methodological multiplication This second period represents a phase in which the discipline was gaining

more autonomy, with independent departments having multiplied and specialised IR PhD programmes having been created. The multi-disciplinary character of IR in Brazil seems to have been consolidated, as shown by the way IR teams and syllabi were created during those years. New research centres have been set up with professors of different disciplines teaching their respective fields. Sometimes, scholars from other departments are affiliated to IR departments to give classes. Older programmes have also been transformed in the same vein. At the UnB, for example, History of International Relations left the History department to join the Institute of International Relations when it was created in 2002. However, to some respect the multi-disciplinary character of IR has its limits. Contrary to what might have been expected, the worldwide success of dependency theory has not generated a strong IPE research tradition in Brazil. 44 Moreover, the current representation of International Relations in the scientific federal agency has promoted political science as the discipline most directly linked to IR, as IR and political science representatives sit in joined commission in CAPES and CNPq.

In terms of methodological and theoretical approaches, it seems that during this second period the Brazilian national field has really caught up with what was going on in global debates. This can be seen by the growing presence of theory and methodology classes both in old and new programmes, as commented on by teachers, students and coordinators.45 The objects of inquiry themselves appear to have been diversified, losing some of their national specificity. From the study of foreign policy to regional issues, more and more scholars now seem to be working on IR global themes such as the environment, immigration or security.

This increasing tendency and capacity to engage in international dialogue has been confirmed in interviews by the current editors of the two most important Brazilian IR journals Revista Brasileira de Relaçoes internacionais and Contexto internacional. If the rigour and scientificity of part of the articles submitted to the journals could still be improved, both editors expressed their satisfaction by acknowledging that the standard of the articles published in their journals is getting closer to the international ones.

Finally, interviewees also observed that their writing style seemed to have lost some of its national specificity as well. Various second generation scholars their need to switch between different styles according to the language of the journal in which they plan to publish their article. Spanish and Portuguese journals are considered to be of the same writing style but the writing in English is considered to be more

43 Herz, Mônica, “O Crescimento da Área de Relações Internacionais no Brasil, Contexto Internacional”, Vol. 24, No 1, Jan./Jun. 2002, p. 18 mentioning Lafer (1972, 1982, 1984) & Jaguaribe (1977, 1980). 44 Lessa, Antônio Carlos, “Instituições, atores e dinâmicas do ensino e da pesquisa em Relações Internacionais no Brasil: o diálogo entre a história, a ciência política e os novos paradigmas de interpretação (dos anos 90 aos nossos dias)”, Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional, Vol. 48, No. 2, p. 171. 45 An analysis of the syllabus of the IR programs of the investigated institutions is planned in order to illustrate this argument.


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“concise”, “short” and “objective”. For the third generation scholars and PhD students, it seems that this difference in writing style is less pronounced, since their suggested their writing style in Portuguese is the same as in English.

2. A brief typology of institutional specialisation Interestingly, the growing pluralism demonstrated in individual practices and

the way department are organised is doubled by a pluralism operating among the different institutions in the country. Bearing in mind that scholars from very different orientations work in each institution, it is however interesting to note that after only ten years of cohabitation, those institutions have already developed methodological, theoretical and disciplinary specialisations. Two kinds of discourses have enabled this typology to be created: scholars’ description of their professional experience within the institution and, 2) scholars’ comments on other institutions and their reputation. This data has led to the identification of 4 sub-national traditions.

As has been seen, a first sub-national tradition is influenced by the field of history (and notably the French tradition of the history of international relations), with the use of archives and interpretative methods. Several works in this field deal with Brazilian foreign policy analysis. This tradition is clearly identified as the tradition of the UnB. For most of the scholars from the UnB and from PUC-Rio, if one sub-national tradition should be considered as the Brazilian tradition, it should be this one.

Extract 2 (2nd generation scholar) 46 - (A) Do you think the UnB could represent a Brazilian tradition? 47 - (I) Totally! It’s the tradition. Because among the programmes, the undergraduate degree of the UnB was the first to be created in Brazil, and then the post-graduate programme. There’s a little historical account of the discipline in the article I wrote. But I’m not saying that it’s the best thing in the world, nothing of the sort, but in Brazil, when you speak about International Relations, generally, in the common sense, you think about the Unb.

On the contrary, scholars from São Paulo tend to argue that there is no tradition in International Relations. Some also suggest that what is done at UnB does not fit with the requirements of the discipline, implicitly or explicitly referring to global/American criteria as the legitimate way to define the disciplinary standards.

Extract 3 (2nd generation scholar) 48 You gonna see, Brazilian scholars have a very low performance, we are in the infancy, how can I say, we are in the jardim de infancia to be very frantic and honest. There’s no tradition... In academic terms in general. But we have a tradition in biology and ciencias exatas, you have much better performance from Brazilian scholars, in chemistry for example, there’s a lot of research. Brazilian research published in journals... the medical area... But in the humanities, in particular in political science and International Relations, there’s no tradition.49

This can be explained by the fact that in terms of the discipline and methodology used, research and teaching at the UnB and USP have emerged as the most opposed sub-national traditions in the Brazilian field. A strong emphasis on quantitative methods, political science and especially American political science seem to characterise USP tradition.

46 Interview made in French, author’s translation, Brasilia. 47 (A) represents author’s interventions when (I) or nothing means the interviewee is speaking. 48 Interview made in English, São Paulo. 49 Scholar second generation, university of Sao Paulo


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Extract 4 (2nd generation scholar) 50 - (A) And between this possible Brazilian tradition and what is done in the United States, for example… what would you prefer? - (I) I prefer what is done in the United States. It’s closer to what I do in terms of research and methodology, right? It’s much closer, right? I mean, because of all the research I’ve done, it’s got a specific methodology, right? Hum I mean… I have little training in history, even in the history of international relations. Thus, I have almost no articles published in this more general line that is done here in Brazil, right? Hum I think that it is also because of the institutions. Those who do well with those interpretative analyses are, for example, people from the UnB who have a very strong course in the history of international relations, right? And here, we’ve always been – here in Sao Paulo and at the USP in particular – we’ve stuck more closely to political science, which is American political science, right? Which is where I got trained, I mean, where I then went and stayed; this has meant that I’m more aligned with this orientation, this is it.

Institutionally and socially, another department appeared even better connected to the global discipline: the IRI at PUC Rio. This seems to be confirmed by the notoriety of the international scholars teaching there and its hosting of the renowned journal International Political Sociology. This institution appears to specialise in theory, and more specifically Critical theory.

Extract 5 (3rd generation scholar) 51 - (I) [Talking about IRI students] They do pages and pages of theory, theory, theory, theory - hum - method of research bla, bla, bla and then the case study, nothing! 2 pages! Here we go! Finish! Why? What? - What did you give me all this methodological stuff for?” And they didn’t have an answer to that. - (A) And do you have an answer for that? - (I) Yes, because that’s what they get trained. That’s what they get in classes, and, and, you know, the curriculum, well, that was that, it’s Theory I, Theory II, Theory III, Theory IV, Theory V…

Finally, a more heterogeneous group seems to be constituted by what can be called a pragmatic tradition. Three programmes investigated seem to fit this profile: San Tiago Dantas, UERJ and FGV. The programmes seem to more directly address the national need for people trained in International Relations, whether to become professors or to familiarize the Brazilian non-academic elite with emerging international questions.

III. The dynamics of globalization

In order to understand the interaction between globalisation and Brazilian IR tradition, this part explores the reasons why some agents may have modified their national tradition according to global tendencies. I will therefore analyse two vectors through which globalisation seems to re-organise professional practices at the national level. My hypothesis is that in the 1990’s both the modalities of socialization of IR scholars of the second generation and the incentives of the federal scientific agencies have resulted in a transformation of publishing, administrating and teaching IR toward a greater adaptation to global US-dominated standards of the discipline. A third dynamic, working in the direction of a “re-nationalisation” of the debates, seems however to have been developed in parallel of this movement.

50 Interview made in Portuguese, the author’s translation, São Paulo. 51 Interview made English, São Paulo.


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A. The institutionalisation of a new type of socialisation The first vector refers to a mutation in scholars’ professional socialisation.

Socialisation is to be understood as a double movement where society produces actors able to insure its integration, as well as able to generate autonomous actions.52 A comparative analysis of the trajectories and “professional vision” of the three generations of scholars of the sample shows that the modalities of socialization of the scholars from the second generation differs largely from those of the precedent generation. An essential feature of this evolution is that for the first generation, national political investment and collaboration is valorised in the narratives of the interviewees. On the contrary, publication and especially international publication seemed to represent the most important sign of achievement for scholars of the second generation.

Extract 6 (1st generation scholar) 53 I am professor, I am professor of all the military schools – the Escola de Guerra Naval, the Escola de Comando e Estado-Maior do Exército –– thus I’m recognized by, by the military, as a trustworthy analyst in International Relations, dealing with Brazilian foreign policy, and I also do, I keep doing – for many years and I keep doing it – interviews for radio and TV programs about Brazilian foreign policy and international relations, thus I have… my relation with foreign policy and international relations goes way beyond, way beyond the university, university classes etc., right ? The bureaucracy, state bureaucracy, the civil and the military, the diplomats, the professional soldiers see me as, I would say, a guy who… who can contribute for the knowledge needed by their professions, diplomats and soldiers. And this, naturally, this coming and going that I have in… with the diplomats, with the military, I don’t owe that to my performance in classrooms, I owe that to my political militancy, my political participation.

Most of IR scholars of the first generation were self-taught internationalists and remained strongly linked to national and regional networks of publication.

Extract 7 (1st generation scholar) 54 I have never been preoccupied by that… for example, with the quality of the journal. When people ask me for an article, a major part of the articles I write are, normally, for colleagues that work in journals, who are coordinating journals, they ask me for an article. If they ask me for an article, they tell me: “We need an article from 15 to 20 pages, for this one”. And I simply write. I have never paid attention to, for example, knowing if the journal only circulates there, in Mato Grasso.

In various cases, a personal involvement in militancy and political activism oriented the areas of investigation.

Extract 8 (1st generation scholar) 55 I published partly because of the history of political militancy I had in Brazil […] I had a lot of publications that were not directly linked to foreign policy themes – there were a lot of publications that were about Brazilian politics in general. I wrote some texts that were published in Mexican journals for example, about… hum… about re-democratization in Brazil and union struggles that were starting at that period.

To explain this difference, it seems necessary to briefly address the trajectory of scholars of the second generation. In the 1990’s, with a growing interest in international questions, a great number of scholars went abroad for their formation due to the lack of 52 Dubet François, Martuccelli Danilo, “Théories de la socialisation et définitions sociologiques de l'école”, Revue française de sociologie, 1996, Vol. 37, No. 4, p. 511. 53 Interview made in Portuguese, author’s translation, Rio de Janeiro. 54 Interview made in Portuguese, author’s translation, São Paulo. 55 Interview made in Portuguese, author’s translation, São Paulo.


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PhD IR programs in Brazil. Firstly, the frequency with which scholars of the second generation mention the importance of the international networks they have developed during and since their PhD abroad is striking. This socialisation had an impact on their production with the continuous exposure of foreign influence through their participation in collaborative works, events and the practice of co-authorship that help Brazilian scholars to adapt their work to an international audience.

Extract 9 (2nd generation scholar) 56 I think the first step, you see, you must have a co-author of everything, a co-author yeah? A professor, a friend of you... English writing, yeah? And in a first move, I have been advise to choose this co-author by the chief of the department because it’s the fast way to have a paper in English without any cost and ready to be publish in an international journal. I’m not choosing this, because I have colleagues, very close friends, we are working together for the 20 years, in the last decades. So that’s a... it’s important yeah. It’s important.

Secondly, the type of formation delivered abroad furnishes new references and ways of legitimation leading to a modification of the programs and of the professional values delivered by scholars in their institutions such as specialised journals and associations. This new type of socialisation seems to have offered a channel of transformation with lasting influence. When they returned, those scholars with foreign formation were trained in more competitive institutions, enjoyed good reputation and rapidly gained responsibility in their national field. Through the authority provided by their position, they could influence the organization of the discipline following the model of teaching they received and reproduced on the national level the disciplinary standards in which they were trained. With the multiplication of IR programs they supervised, this generation had and still has a strong influence in the recruitment and the formation of the scholars of the next generation. The following example deals with the introduction of the “peer review culture” in Brazilian professional tradition:

Extract 10 (3rd generation scholar) 57

Thus, I think that it is also part of our work to educate people about this kind of stuff, right? This is international culture, this is international procedure, all knowledge, and all scientific constraints that you can have in a top-level journal, they rely on the peer-review, and you need to do it. When you receive a feedback, right, the feedback of your work, it is a constructive criticism [laughs], but this is not easy, not easy you understand, not easy at all.

Indeed, the profiles of the scholars of the third generation confirm this internationalisation of the trajectories. The number of foreigners in this generation is much more important than in the previous generation and those who are Brazilian benefit from a number of experiences and publications abroad.58 This tendency of valorising recruits with foreign backgrounds has been confirmed by scholars pertaining to hiring boards of various departments.

Generally, the difference between scholars of the third and first generation was important when dealing with the way they perceived their legitimacy in contributing to the global debate. In the case of PhD students, this can also be explained by the fact that

56 Interview made in English, São Paulo. 57 Interview made in Portuguese, author’s translation, Brasilia. 58 A comparative analysis of the internationalisation of the resumes of scholars from the different generations is planned in order to deepen this argument.


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the IR programs in Brazil have recently been adapted in order to better integrate the current methodological and theoretical debates occurring at the international level.59

Extract 11 (1st generation scholar) 60 I think that we don’t have the competence to publish, in an international journal, about important topics, topics of international relevance. Sometimes, people think they have, I think we don’t have, no. For example, you publish in a big English journal, a big American journal, I think the ideal would be to do it with texts about Brazil. I think there are topics beyond our understanding in Brazil… those that are not Brazilian… I think we don’t have the competence to compete with them [foreign scholars] at same level. Me, for example… sometimes people think “I will write an article about North American elections for American audience” I think we don’t have the competence for that. I think the Americans produce more and better, the same way somebody will ask me to write an article about French elections, about Sarkozy, about I don’t know whom, Mr So-and-so, well… ok… I can, I can write and publish for people in Brazil, but I cannot publish in a French journal of Political Science, for example, it’s not relevant. I think I don’t have enough competence to compete at the same level of quality, which the article could be better, but it’s not at the same level of quality than the one written by a French guy. Then we don’t have the competence to write basically about any topic in the world in whatever else country.

Extract 12 (PhD student, 3rd generation) 61 I’ve been to Israel, last year, in July, it was a great thing because I did a workshop about the Arab-Israeli conflict, that’s one of my interests, and it was amazing because I spent fifteen days there, two weeks and it was fully funded by the University of Tel-Aviv so I had my plane tickets paid, and my stay there, it was amazing and there I made friends with many people who share the same interest in the Israeli conflict, the Israeli politics and everything so these was a great experience.

B. A global tendency to evaluate science through bibliometrics The policies of the federal scientific agencies represent the second vector of

the re-structuring of the IR field. By the end of the nineties, the booming of Brazilian universities had resulted in a reform to the national criteria for evaluating and founding research. One of the main components of this reform relied on the construction of incentive tools for productivity - including the development of international visibility - by means of bibliometric evaluation.

Institutionally, the assessment system developed by the CAPES links the mark obtained by the programmes at each triennial evaluation with the production of every scholar and post-graduate student enrolled on this programme. In order to evaluate academic production, tools such as the Qualis have been created.62 The Qualis is an online classification of academic journals developed by CAPES in order to assess scientific production. According to its criteria, journals need to include international publications in order to get the best mark: A1. Since Brazilian journals mainly publish national authors, publishing in one of them is hardly considered very rewarding. And it appears to be in the interest of scholars to develop their programmes’ reputation, as this will influence their own reputation as well as the quality of students registering in their respective institutions. According to the interviewees, it is humiliating whenever a programme closes, and also an obstacle to

59 An analysis of the syllabus of the programs is in progress in order to illustrate this argument. 60 Interview made in Portuguese, author’s translation, São Paulo 61 Interview made in English, São Paulo. 62 For more information see the official website of the Qualis classification: http://qualis.capes.gov.br/webqualis/


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career advancement; moving from one institution to another is not a common practice in Brazil. On some programmes, annual publications are also compulsory for PhD students. The PhD candidates who were questioned interpreted this practice to be a direct consequence of CAPES policies. The following quote is an example of the adaptation of a scholar’s production to scientific evaluation criteria:

Extract 13 (2nd generation scholar) 63 There are things that are incredible, for example, book reviews, it’s something that I used to do, it’s something I won’t do anymore, because they don’t bring any benefits to the evaluation. When you do the book review, you read a book, you make a comment, it’s very important, in all the journals you always have a section for that, for us, it’s a waste of time, in Contexto Internacional, they don’t even have the space for that, it’s horrible, the rules of the CAPES change scholars’ behaviour. Really, when you do something and it’s not worth anything, when it doesn’t even appear on the CV…

This last sentence is worth drawing attention to as it refers to another bibliometric tool developed by the CNPq. Indeed, it is compulsory for every Brazilian scholar to update a standardised online résumé on a CNPq web platform named “Lattes”. This résumé is the main support to scholars’ evaluation for CAPES and CNPq agencies.64 For the CNPq, it is for example used for selecting who will be granted the productivity scholarships. But the public nature of this online device seems to complicate the sole monetary incentive that could be generated by the benefit of the scholarship:

Extract 14 (2nd generation scholar) 65 - (I) It gives you visibility. Even, for example, even if your salary won’t get much higher bla bla bla, but the visibility! The fact you have a Lattes where there’s nothing in it, nothing written in it, I think it’s a, it’s a constraint.

- (A) … You mean it’s a kind of a social emulation? - (I) I think so. Maybe I’m speaking too much for myself, but I don’t know, people I know, my close colleagues, we are all in the same boat.

Looking more closely into the genesis of the evaluation criteria reveals the influence that hard science models have on the assessment of social sciences in Brazil. According to the agents, this can be explained by the fact that the Brazilian fields of, for example, physics and biology, have an older tradition of internationalisation. This first wave of internationalisation is thus considered to have been used as a model for the rest of the Brazilian scientific system.66 Inside the CAPES, the homogenisation of the criteria of evaluation between all the disciplines seems to be the result of a voluntarist policy, as explicitly mentioned by some members of the directory board. On the contrary, scholars representing IR in federal scientific institutions have insisted on the discrepancy existing between the specificities of social sciences and the unitary policies run by the CAPES administration. For example, before the reforms, IR’s traditional publishing support was books. Since bibliometric incentives were set up, most scholars have tended to orient their publication toward journal articles because book publications didn’t count for the evaluation. Following complaints from representatives of social sciences, books have started to be evaluated in the last triennial evaluation. However, scholars - even those with responsibilities in the 63 Interview made in French, author’s translation, Brasilia. 64 For more information see the official website of the Lattes platform : http://lattes.cnpq.br/ 65 Interview made in French, author’s translation, Brasilia. 66 Interviews with the Chief Executive of Evaluation and the Chief Executive of International Cooperation of the CAPES have for example insists on the founding role of the CAPES-COFECUB agreement between France and Brazil since 1979.


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CAPES - remain sceptic about the system’s capacity to take into account the specificities of social sciences.

Extract 15 (2nd generation scholar) 67 [talking about the CAPES directory board ] they tried to communicate what CAPES was thinking, and this time, they’ve talked a lot about books and everything, but we can’t see - and haven’t been able to for a while now - we can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, we can’t see any safety attached to books, we can’t see that publishing book is safe at all.

C. Reflexive structuration as a stake for country’s globalisation Lastly, in order to fully understand the multi-level (sub-

national/national/global) and multi-dimensional (political/scientific/ethical) stakes of the transformation of the IR national tradition in Brazil, it seems necessary to take into account the reflexive discourse elaborated by the agents involved in this process. I started this investigation with the postulate that most of the scholars I was going to question were looking to be better integrated into the international publication system. However, the critical position of some of the interviewees complicated my vision of the problem. Indeed, for some interviewees, the way IR Brazilian tradition is currently affected by globalisation is considered to be working against the interest of the country’s globalisation process. Indeed, the fact that IR itself treats the question of globalisation as an object of inquiry has led to an acute awareness of the political values and consequences involved in its national and international organisation. Most of the persons interviewed welcome the growing interest shown by the international community toward Brazilian studies as well as the greater quality of work produced in Brazil resulting from the higher level of international exposure. However, understanding the political dimension of the connection of the Brazilian field to the global discipline appears to be a great challenge for part of the national community.

The interviews seem to have crystallised two main stances dealing with the interaction between IR national tradition and globalisation. On the one hand, some discourses underline the need for a greater academization of Brazilian scientific production through the better assimilation of foreign (mainly American) influences. This stance itself includes different attitudes toward the transformation/conservation of what we have identified as the “Brazilian historical tradition”. Scholars working within “Critical” framework mainly show indifference when dealing with the potential of Brazilian specificities. Scholars working in quantitative methodology or relying on a more or less explicit positivist framework see the distinction from the older historical tradition as a good thing for Brazilian IR professionalisation.

Extract 16 (3rd generation scholar) 68 - (I) And my students… there is a large literature about politica externa brasileira that is quite historical and quite descriptive and uses the language in certain ways and if I have masters students or doctorates that start working on this literature, they start writing that way, I have to cure them on that at some point and get them to write as IR scholars again, but I think you’re influenced about what you read, you’re influenced by your models as well. [Phone call] - (A) …You were saying you were “curing” students from their way of writing?

67 Interview made in French, author’s translation, Brasilia. 68 Interview made in English, Rio de Janeiro


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- (I) Ok “curing” was probably not the right word! I encourage students not to be descriptive, to follow some kind of quote/unquote scientific structure. Look, I can’t oblige them to be positivist, or realist…[…] although I’m not working in it completely myself. But I try to get them to follow something more than descriptive and the foreign policy here in Brazil has a tendency to be very historicist and very descriptive.

On the other hand, some interviewees expressed their fear that the construction of a national scientific tradition adapted to global criteria appears partly incompatible with the interest of Brazil’s national development and inclusion in the international system. This position defends that the globalisation of IR Brazilian tradition should not result in the passive reproduction of the global debate at the national level. For them, the current dynamics of IR globalisation are not equivalent with a model of internationalisation where different communities are exchanging their point of view, as globalisation is currently synonymous with Americanisation. Brazilian scholars hardly ever participate in global theoretical debates and only participate in research programs created outside Brazil. They then import those debates, theories, concepts and methodology unreflexively into their institution and the formation of the Brazilian elite. This stance relies on two sets of arguments.

On a cognitive level, the dependence on American literature nurtures the inability of Brazilian scholars to develop a discourse in keeping with their experience, values and localization. Here, what is denounced is Brazilian IR scholars’ lack of reflexivity.

Extract 17 (1st generation scholar) 69 The way the Americans are self-centred, are nationalists, and that they are not concerned with the reality of any other country, right? And us, here, we don’t have this… we don’t have this discernment, we don’t have it. It is considered… how should I say, it is considered that it’s an international science, that is there, in the air and that everybody can use it in an aseptic way, in a tranquil way, without any kind of commitment, right? Without understanding the very origins, what does it mean to study political science in the United States, what does it mean to study International Relations, right? The way it represents a power device, right? When you assimilate that without any kind of criticism, you are reproducing the Other’s vision, you are seeing reality through the lenses of somebody else. You take the lenses of the Other, and you see, right? This is… this is a question that is not… it’s interesting… every scientific discipline passes through this process, and us, here, we are having a hard time going through this.

On the political level, some scholars lament the incapacity of the literature produced by the second generation to address the needs confronted by politicians. Here is an example of a particularly reflexive interviewee denouncing this social disconnection:

Extract 18 (2nd generation scholar) 70 I am personally very critical about the system of evaluation that ended up consolidating itself in the area of science and technology, that established a single indicator as a criteria for punctuating career advancement, a single indicator that is publication of articles in indexed journals, with a preference for publication in international journals, which oriented careers for a certain type of academic production less linked, in my perception, to the great themes of national public debates, the great stakes of national development, and more linked to the intellectual fashions of academic area, thus, people are aspiring to publish waste with those groups who already publish, with the people in charge for the publication of well-ranked

69 Interview made in Portuguese, author’s translation, Rio de Janeiro. 70 Interview made in Portuguese, author’s translation, Rio de Janeiro.


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journals, because this has an impact on career evolution. I think this has got systematised in a way that... we have contributed to this, because with the absence of an area of International Relations in Brazil, many of us were trained abroad, or the under-graduation - since the undergrad for me-, and then the post graduation at LSE and in other centres, thus we have established a network of international relations to help structure an area of International Relations here in Brazil but, through this… and also fed by this system of careers that ended up weighing heavily on career advancement into the direction of a unitary system, of publications and publications in foreign journals, I think this has been pushing away huge parts of the area of International Relations, and social sciences as a whole, from the great national debates, from the great themes of national politics and the area has been – from my critical perspective – becoming more and more irrelevant for public national debates.

Those positions have materialized in the creation of new incentives in favour of recovering the prescriptive line of the older tradition. As an illustration, the former director of the FINEP mentions its action in the promotion of the need to create more “policy-oriented” research centres in the IR Brazilian field. Those incentives led to the institutionalisation of various research groups such as the Centre for the Study of United States of America (CEEUA) and the BRICS Policy Center. This movement has been accompanied by the fact that with the current transformation of Brazil, public stakeholders themselves appear more interested about international questions.71 It is interesting that among our interviewees, various researchers and PhD students a priori not dealing with policy-oriented or Brazilian issues have expressed their surprise in discovering how much their study of concrete, empirical cases has helped them to make more complex their global or more abstract research agenda.

Conclusion This article aimed at exploring the modalities of interaction between

“globalisation” and the transformation of Brazilian IR tradition.

A comparative analysis of the two phases of IR national field’s structuration reveals the existence of a growing pluralism during the last fifteen years. Interestingly, the different sub-national traditions echo the global disciplinary debates, for example between Critical and positivist IR or American/European traditions. This pluralism also includes national specificities with the presence of historical and prescriptive lines of study dealing more specifically with Brazilian foreign policy. Today, it seems that different institutions embody the different sub-national traditions. Whether or not this pluralism may be considered a peculiarity of Brazilian IR tradition is hard to say. As the field is engaged in a rapid transformation, the struggle between the different institutions may led to a variety of situations. The added value of this potential IR tradition for the international IR community will depend not only on its originality, but also to my view, on the capacity of this community to preserve this very interesting pluralistic setting.

Analytically, three dynamics have been put forward to explain the relation between professional practice and the circulation of global disciplinary standards. Firstly, the institutionalisation of transnational modes of socialization has facilitated the introduction of global habits of publication, themes, and methodology into the regulation of national tradition. Secondly, the endogenous structuration of the Brazilian 71LESSA, Antônio Carlos, “Instituições, atores e dinâmicas do ensino e da pesquisa em Relações Internacionais no Brasil: o diálogo entre a história, a ciência política e os novos paradigmas de interpretação (dos anos 90 aos nossos dias)”, Revista Brasileira de Política Inernacional, Vol. 48, No. 2, p. 176.


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scientific field on the model of hard sciences has established a connection between the American criteria of scientific evaluation and national criteria for career advancement. In the case of IR, this situation seems to have favoured sub-national traditions already familiarized with the American models. Finally, the recuperation of the prescriptive Brazilian line has tended to defend a more voluntarist reflexive stance in the interaction between national IR production and globalisation. However, a further investigation would be necessary in order to assess the impact that alternative IR traditions – notably those of emerging global powers – could have on their national development and globalization in more general terms.

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